Dictionary Definition
asperity
Noun
1 something hard to endure; "the asperity of
northern winters" [syn: grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, rigorousness]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- Roughness as of stone or weather.
- Something that is harsh and hard to endure.
- Harshness, as of temper.
- Asperity of Maine's winter
- A part of a geological fault line that does not move. Earthquakes begin and end at asperities.
Extensive Definition
Asperity is defined as unevenness of surface,
roughness, ruggedness (OED). Flat surfaces,
even those polished to a mirror finish, are not truly flat on an
atomic scale. They are rough, with sharp, rough or rugged
outgrowth, termed asperities.
When two macroscopically flat surfaces come into
contact, initially they only touch at a few of these asperity
points. These cover only a very small portion of the surface area.
Friction
and wear originate at these
points and thus understanding their behavior is important when
studying materials in contact. When the surfaces are subjected to a
compressive load, the asperities plastically deform, increasing the
contact area between the two surfaces until the contact area is
sufficient to support the load.
The Archard
equation is a simplified model of asperity deformation when
materials in contact are subject to a force.
See also
References
External links
asperity in Japanese: アスペリティ
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
acerbity, acid, acidity, acidness, acidulousness, acridity, acrimony, anger, animosity, astringency, austerity, bad humor, bad
temper, bile, biliousness, bitingness, bitter
resentment, bitterness, bitterness of
spirit, bumpiness,
causticity, causticness, choler, choppiness, corrosiveness, cragginess, cuttingness, discontent, edge, gall, gnashing of teeth, granulation, grimness, hard feelings,
hardness, hardship, harshness, heartburning, hispidity, ill humor, ill
nature, ill temper, incisiveness, inclemency, inequality, irregularity, irritability, jaggedness, joltiness, keenness, mordacity, mordancy, nonuniformity, piercingness, piquancy, poignancy, pungency, raggedness, rancor, rankling, rigor, rough air, roughness, ruggedness, rugosity, scraggliness, severity, sharpness, slow burn, snappishness, soreness, sourness, spleen, stabbingness, stringency, tartness, tooth, trenchancy, turbulence, unevenness, unsmoothness, ununiformity, vicissitude, virulence, waspishness