What is "displacement"

Fault \Fault\, n. [OE. faut, faute, F. faute (cf. It., Sp., & Pg. falta), fr. a verb meaning to want, fail, freq., fr. L. fallere to deceive. See Fail, and cf. Default.]

1. Defect; want; lack; default.

   One, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend.
   --Shak.

2. Anything that fails, that is wanting, or that impairs excellence; a failing; a defect; a blemish.

   As patches set upon a little breach Discredit more in hiding of the fault.
   --Shak.

3. A moral failing; a defect or dereliction from duty; a deviation from propriety; an offense less serious than a crime.

4. (Geol. & Mining)

   1. A dislocation of the strata of the vein.

   2. In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam; as, slate fault, dirt fault, etc.
      --Raymond.

5. (Hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.

   Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, With much ado, the cold fault cleary out.
   --Shak.

6. (Tennis) Failure to serve the ball into the proper court.

7. (Elec.) A defective point in an electric circuit due to a crossing of the parts of the conductor, or to contact with another conductor or the earth, or to a break in the circuit.

8. (Geol. & Mining) A dislocation caused by a slipping of rock masses along a plane of facture; also, the dislocated structure resulting from such slipping.

   Note: The surface along which the dislocated masses have moved is called the

   fault plane. When this plane is vertical, the fault is a

   vertical fault; when its inclination is such that the present relative position of the two masses could have been produced by the sliding down, along the fault plane, of the mass on its upper side, the fault is a

   normal fault, or gravity fault. When the fault plane is so inclined that the mass on its upper side has moved up relatively, the fault is then called a

   reverse fault (or reversed fault), thrust fault, or overthrust fault. If no vertical displacement has resulted, the fault is then called a

   horizontal fault. The linear extent of the dislocation measured on the fault plane and in the direction of movement is the

   displacement; the vertical displacement is the

   throw; the horizontal displacement is the

   heave. The direction of the line of intersection of the fault plane with a horizontal plane is the

   trend of the fault. A fault is a

   strike fault when its trend coincides approximately with the strike of associated strata (i.e., the line of intersection of the plane of the strata with a horizontal plane); it is a

   dip fault when its trend is at right angles to the strike; an

   oblique fault when its trend is oblique to the strike. Oblique faults and dip faults are sometimes called

   cross faults. A series of closely associated parallel faults are sometimes called

   step faults and sometimes

   distributive faults.

   At fault, unable to find the scent and continue chase; hence, in trouble or embarrassment, and unable to proceed; puzzled; thrown off the track.

   To find fault, to find reason for blaming or complaining; to express dissatisfaction; to complain; -- followed by with before the thing complained of; but formerly by at. ``Matter to find fault at.''
   --Robynson (More's Utopia).

   Syn: -- Error; blemish; defect; imperfection; weakness; blunder; failing; vice.

   Usage: Fault, Failing, Defect, Foible. A fault is positive, something morally wrong; a failing is negative, some weakness or falling short in a man's character, disposition, or habits; a defect is also negative, and as applied to character is the absence of anything which is necessary to its completeness or perfection; a foible is a less important weakness, which we overlook or smile at. A man may have many failings, and yet commit but few faults; or his faults and failings may be few, while his foibles are obvious to all. The faults of a friend are often palliated or explained away into mere defects, and the defects or foibles of an enemy exaggerated into faults. ``I have failings in common with every human being, besides my own peculiar faults; but of avarice I have generally held myself guiltless.''
   --Fox. ``Presumption and self-applause are the foibles of mankind.''
   --Waterland.

1610s, "removal from office;" see displace + -ment. Physics sense is from c.1810.

n. 1 The act of displace, or the state of being displaced; a putting out of place. 2 The quantity of anything, as water, displaced by a floating body, as by a ship, the weight of the displaced liquid being equal to that of the displacing body. 3 (context chemistry English) The process of extracting soluble substances from organic material and the like, whereby a quantity of saturated solvent is displaced, or removed, for another quantity of the solvent. 4 (context fencing English) Moving the target to avoid an attack; dodge. 5 (context physics English) A vector quantity which denotes distance with a directional component. 6 (context grammar English) (rfdef lang=en topic=grammar)

1. n. an event in which something is displaced without rotation [syn: shift]

2. act of taking the place of another especially using underhanded tactics [syn: supplanting]

3. the act of uniform movement [syn: translation]

4. (chemistry) a reaction in which an elementary substance displaces and sets free a constituent element from a compound [syn: displacement reaction]

5. (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one

6. to move something from its natural environment [syn: deracination]

7. act of removing from office or employment

Displacement may refer to:

A displacement is a vector that is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point P. It quantifies both the distance and direction of an imaginary motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of the point.

A displacement may be also described as a 'relative position': the final position of a point (R) relative to its initial position (R), and a displacement vector can be mathematically defined as the difference between the final and initial position vectors:

$$\boldsymbol{s}=\boldsymbol{R_f-R_i}=\Delta\boldsymbol{R}$$

In considering motions of objects over time the instantaneous velocity of the object is the rate of change of the displacement as a function of time. The velocity then is distinct from the instantaneous speed which is the time rate of change of the distance traveled along a specific path. The velocity may be equivalently defined as the time rate of change of the position vector. If one considers a moving initial position, or equivalently a moving origin (e.g. an initial position or origin which is fixed to a train wagon, which in turn moves with respect to its rail track), the velocity of P (e.g. a point representing the position of a passenger walking on the train) may be referred to as a relative velocity, as opposed to an absolute velocity, which is computed with respect to a point which is considered to be 'fixed in space' (such as, for instance, a point fixed on the floor of the train station).

For motion over a given interval of time, the displacement divided by the length of the time interval defines the average velocity. (Note that the average velocity, as a vector, differs from the average speed that is the ratio of the path length — a scalar — and the time interval.)

In fluid mechanics, displacement occurs when an object is immersed in a fluid, pushing it out of the way and taking its place. The volume of the fluid displaced can then be measured, and from this the volume of the immersed object can be deduced (the volume of the immersed object will be exactly equal to the volume of the displaced fluid).

An object that sinks displaces an amount of fluid equal to the object's volume. Thus buoyancy is expressed through Archimedes' principle, which states that the weight of the object is reduced by its volume multiplied by the density of the fluid. If the weight of the object is less than this displaced quantity, the object floats; if more, it sinks. The amount of fluid displaced is directly related (via Archimedes' Principle) to its volume.

In the case of an object that sinks (is totally submerged), the volume of the object is displaced. In the case of an object that floats, the amount of fluid displaced will be equal in weight to the displacing object.

Archimedes Principle, physical law of buoyancy, stating that any body completely or partially submerged in a fluid (gas or liquid) at rest is acted upon by an upward, or buoyant, force the magnitude of which is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. The volume of displaced fluid is equivalent to the volume of an object fully immersed in a fluid or to that fraction of the volume below the surface for an object partially submerged in a liquid. The weight of the displaced portion of the fluid is equivalent to the magnitude of the buoyant force. The buoyant force on a body floating in a liquid or gas is also equivalent in magnitude to the weight of the floating object and is opposite in direction; the object neither rises nor sinks. If the weight of an object is less than that of the displaced fluid, the object rises, as in the case of a block of wood that is released beneath the surface of water or a helium-filled balloon that is let loose in air. An object heavier than the amount of the fluid it displaces, though it sinks when released, has an apparent weight loss equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. In fact, in some accurate weighing, a correction must be made in order to compensate for the buoyancy effect of the surrounding air. The buoyant force, which always opposes gravity, is nevertheless caused by gravity. Fluid pressure increases with depth because of the (gravitational) weight of the fluid above. This increasing pressure applies a force on a submerged object that increases with depth. The result is buoyancy.

In Freudian psychology, displacement (, "shift, move") is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind substitutes either a new aim or a new object for goals felt in their original form to be dangerous or unacceptable.

A term originating with Sigmund Freud, displacement operates in the mind unconsciously, its transference of emotions, ideas, or wishes being most often used to allay anxiety in the face of aggressive or sexual impulses.

In fencing, a displacement is a movement that avoids or dodges an attack.

Fencers commonly use displacement when attacking while not having priority. Attacking into the opponent's right-of-way is known as a counter-attack. If both fencers land, the fencer with priority, the attacker, is awarded the touch; therefore, the goal of the displacement is to hit the opponent while avoiding being hit in return. Displacement can take the form of retreating, advancing past the enemy's blade, utilising a flèche, ducking, or even stepping off the piste.

Category:Fencing

Displacement in orthopedic surgery refers to change in alignment of the fracture fragments. In the context of joints, displacement implies that the joint surfaces are not in anatomical alignment.

Category:Bone fractures

The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is the ship's weight. The name reflects the fact that it is measured indirectly, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, and then calculating the weight of that water. By Archimedes' principle, this is also the weight of the ship.

Displacement should not be confused with other measurements of volume or capacity typically used for commercial vessels such as net tonnage, gross tonnage, or deadweight tonnage.

In linguistics, displacement is the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present (spatially or temporally); i.e., things that are either not here or are not here now.

In 1960, Charles F. Hockett proposed displacement as one of 13 design features of language that distinguish human language from animal communication systems (ACSs):