Wiktionary
a. 1 (context physics English) (''of a gas'') Above its critical temperature and critical pressure 2 (context physics English) Having a mass sufficient to sustain a chain reaction 3 (context aerodynamics English) Above the speed of sound 4 Above some other critical value or range
WordNet
adj. (especially of fissionable material) able to sustain a chain reaction in such a manner that the rate of reaction increases
Wikipedia
Supercritical may refer to:
- Critical mass, the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction
- Critical temperature, Tc, the temperature above which distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist
- Supercritical fluid, a substance at a temperature and pressure above its thermodynamic critical point
- Supercritical carbon dioxide, same as above, applied to carbon dioxide
- Supercritical fluid chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), using supercritical carbon dioxide as the mobile phase
- Supercritical airfoil, an airfoil designed to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range
- Supercritical drying, the process to remove liquid in a precisely controlled way, similar to freeze drying
- Supercritical mass, where there is an increasing rate of fission
- Supercritical water reactor (SCWR), a Generation IV nuclear reactor concept that uses supercritical water as the working fluid
- Supercritical water oxidation or SCWO, a process that occurs in water at temperatures and pressures above a mixture's thermodynamic critical point
- Supercritical flow, when the flow velocity is larger than the wave velocity
- Supercritical steam generator, a steam generator operating above the critical point of water, hence having no water - steam separation
- Hopf bifurcation, a local bifurcation ; when the first Lyapunov coefficient is negative, the bifurcation is called supercritical
- Pitchfork bifurcation, similar to the case of a Hopf bifurcation
Usage examples of "supercritical".
Two masses of U-235, which held at a short distance apart remain subcritical, when joined go supercritical, developing great heat and pressure.
The Baron scoured the entirety of the vessel, from the Supercritical Harrow Tank to the Debasing Pods, and not only did the Baron not find Madeline, the Ethyls appeared to be missing, too.
Marjorie and her husband had one of those ultrasensitive, supercritical quarrels that couples never indulge in unless they care a great deal about each other.
Their wastes, including their little dead bodies, go to a bank of SCWOs - supercritical water oxidisers - superhot liquid steam which can oxidise organic slurry in seconds.
Increasing speed in the vacuum, it crushed the nuclear mass uniformly to one third its original size, further increasing the density of the U-235, which was surrounded by a beryllium shell, and in turn crushing the nemo initiator, which was designed upon being crushed to create a huge influx of electrons, causing nuclear fusion and a supercritical mass.