tunneling

(noun)

the quantum-mechanical passing of a particle through an energy barrier

Examples of tunneling in the following topics:

  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

    • Carpal tunnel syndrome is an entrapment median neuropathy of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel.
    • Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is an entrapment median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, numbness, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel.
    • The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be attributed to the compression of the median nerve traveling through the carpal tunnel.
    • Pain in carpal tunnel syndrome is primarily numbness that is so intense that it wakes one from sleep.
    • Carpal tunnel syndrome can be associated with any condition that causes pressure on the median nerve at the wrist.

  • Quantum Tunneling

    • If an object lacks enough energy to pass through a barrier, it is possible for it to "tunnel" through imaginary space to the other side.
    • This phenomenon is called quantum tunneling.
    • While the possibility of tunneling is essentially ignorable at macroscopic levels, it occurs regularly on the nanoscale level.
    • Yet, electrons commonly cross from one lobe to the other via quantum tunneling.
    • But what accounts for the difference in probability of an electron tunneling over a nodal plane and a ball tunneling through a brick wall?

  • Dover Castle in England

    • During the siege, the English defenders tunneled outwards and attacked the French, thus creating the only counter tunnel in the world.
    • The solution adopted by Twiss and the Royal Engineers was to create a complex of barracks tunnels about 15 meters below the cliff top.
    • At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the tunnels housed more than 2,000 men and to date are the only underground barracks ever built in Britain.
    • The tunnels built during the Napoleonic Wars held future significance.
    • The castle, secret tunnels, and surrounding land are now owned by English Heritage and the site is a major tourist attraction.

  • The Transcontinental Railroads

    • Tunnels were blasted through hard rock by drilling holes in the rock face by hand and filling them with black powder.
    • The loosened rock would be collected and hauled out of the tunnel for use in a fill area or as roadbed, or else dumped over the side as waste.
    • A foot or so advance on a tunnel face was a typical day's work.
    • Some tunnels took almost a year to finish; the Summit Tunnel, the longest, took almost two years.
    • In the final days of working in the Sierras, the recently invented nitroglycerin explosive was introduced and used on the last tunnels including Summit Tunnel.

  • Scanned-Probe Microscopy

    • Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measures a weak electrical current flowing between tip and sample as they are held apart.

  • Mycenaean Architecture

    • The gate is 20 feet wide, which was large enough for citizens and wagons to pass through, but its size and the walls on either side that create a tunneling effect.
    • Its most notable features were its palace, its Cyclopean tunnels, its walls, and its tightly controlled access to the megaron and main rooms of the citadel.
    • The citadel site of Tiyrns is known for its Cyclopean vaulted tunnels that run next to its walls and its tightly controlled access to the megaron and the main rooms of the citadel.

  • Relief Measures

    • In its 10 years of existence, the PWA worked with private companies to build 34,599 projects, including the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state and the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City.

  • Functional Structure

    • Functional structures may also be susceptible to tunnel vision, with each function perceiving the organization only from within the frame of its own operation.

  • Blood-Brain Barrier

    • These harmful bacteria seem to breach the BBB by physically tunneling through the blood vessel walls.
    • These harmful bacteria seem to breach the BBB by physically tunneling through the blood vessel walls.

  • Muscles of the Wrist and Hand

    • Attachments – Originates from the humerus and the radius, splitting into four tendons at the wrist which travel through the carpal tunnel and attach to the fingers.
    • Attachments - Originates from the ulna, splitting into four tendons at the wrist which travel through the carpal tunnel and attach distally to the fingers.
    • Attachments - Originates from the humerus, splitting into four tendons at the wrist which travel through the carpal tunnel and attach to the digits.