Thoracic Cavity

(noun)

A hollow place or space, or a potential space, within the body or one of its organs.

Related Terms

Examples of Thoracic Cavity in the following topics:

  • Pressure in the Body

    • The mechanism resulting in inhalation is due to lowering of the diaphragm, which increases the volume of the thoracic cavity surrounding the lungs, thus lowering its pressure as determined by the ideal gas law.
    • The reduction in pressure of the thoracic cavity, which normally has a negative gauge pressure, thus keeping the lungs inflated, pulls air into the lungs, inflating the alveoli and resulting in oxygen transport needed for respiration.
    • As the diaphragm restores and moves upwards, pressure within the thoracic cavity increases, resulting in exhalation.

  • Examples and Applications

    • We will explore some of these, including the cyclotron and synchrotron, cavity magnetron, and mass spectrometer.
    • Spaced around the rim of the chamber are cylindrical cavities.
    • The cavities are open along their length and connect the common cavity space.
    • The sizes of the cavities determine the resonant frequency, and thereby the frequency of emitted microwaves.
    • A cross-sectional diagram of a resonant cavity magnetron.

  • Lasers

    • A laser consists of a gain medium, a mechanism to supply energy to it, and something to provide optical feedback (usually an optical cavity).
    • When a gain medium is placed in an optical cavity, a laser can then produce a coherent beam of photons.
    • The most common type of laser uses feedback from an optical cavity--a pair of highly reflective mirrors on either end of the gain medium.

  • Microwaves

    • Cutaway view inside a cavity magnetron as used in a microwave oven.

  • Standing Waves in Air Columns

    • In fact, much of our speech is determined by shaping the cavity formed by the throat and mouth and positioning the tongue to adjust the fundamental and combination of overtones.
    • Simple resonant cavities can be made to resonate with the sound of the vowels, for example.

  • Particle-Wave Duality

    • Black body radiation: In 1901, to explain the observed spectrum of light emitted by a glowing object, Max Planck assumed that the energy of the radiation in the cavity was quantized, contradicting the established belief that electromagnetic radiation is a wave.