Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Turbidity |
TurbidityNoun1. Muddiness created by stirring up sediment or having foreign particles suspended. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "turbidity" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1842. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | In meteorology, any condition of the atmosphere which reduces its transparency to radiation, especially to visible radiation. Ordinarily, this is applied to a cloud-free portion of the atmosphere that owes its turbidity to air molecules and suspensoids such as smoke, dust, and haze, and the scintillation effects. (references) |
Building & Civil Engineering | Material carried in the stream in suspension, often fine sand. Source: European Union. (references) |
Electrical Engineering | Any condition of the atmosphere which reduces its transparency to radiation, especially to visible radiation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Environment | 1. Haziness in air caused by the presence of particles and pollutants. 2. A cloudy condition in water due to suspended silt or organic matter. (references) |
Hydrologic | The amount of solid particles that are suspended in water and that cause light rays shining through the water to scatter. Thus, turbidity makes the water cloudy or even opaque in extreme cases. Turbidity is measured in nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). (references) |
| The thickness or opaqueness of water caused by the suspension of matter. The turbidity of rivers and lakes increases after a rainfall. (references) | |
Mining | A. The state, condition, or quality of opaqueness or reduced clarity of a fluid, due to the presence of suspended matter b. A measure of the ability of suspended material to disturb or diminishthe penetration of light through a fluid. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
There are several practical ways of quantifying cloudiness in water, the most direct being some measure of attenuation (that is, reduction in strength) of light as it passes through a sample column of water. The now little-used Jackson Candle method (units: Jackson Turbidity Unit or JTU) is essentially the inverse measure of the length of a column of water needed to completely obscure a candle flame viewed through it. The more water needed (the longer the water column), the clearer the water. Of course water alone produces some attentuation, and any substances dissolved in the water that produce color can attenuate some wavelengths. Modern instruments do not use candles, but this approach of attenuation of a light beam through a column of water should be calibrated and reported in JTUs.
A property of the particles — that they will scatter a light beam focused on them — is considered a more meaningful measure of turbidity in water. Turbidity measured this way uses an instrument called a nephelometer with the detector setup to the side of the light beam. More light reaches the detector if there are lots of small particles reflecting the source beam than if there are few. The units of turbidity from a calibrated nephelometer are called Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). To some extent, how much light reflects for a given amount of particulates is dependent upon properties of the particles like their shape, color, and reflectivity. For this reason (and the reason that heavier particles settle quickly and do not contribute to a turbidity reading), a correlation between turbidity and TSS is somewhat unique for each location or situation.
Turbidity in lakes, reservoirs, and the ocean can be measured using a Secchi disk. This black and white disk is lowered into the water until it can no longer be seen; the depth (secchi depth)is then recorded as a measure of the transparency of the water (inversely related to turbidity). The Secchi disk has the advantages of integrating turbidity over depth (where variable turbidity layers are present), being quick and easy to use, and inexpensive. It can provide a rough indication of the depth of the euphotic zone with a 3-fold multiplication of the secchi depth. However, this cannot be used in shallow waters where the disk can still be seen on the bottom.
There are frequently standards on the allowable turbidity in drinking water. In the United States (as of 2003) the allowable standard is 1 NTU, with many drinking water utilities striving to achieve levels as low as 0.1 NTU.
See also: nephelometer, water purification
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Turbidity."
Synonym: TurbiditySynonym: turbidness (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Title |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | 3-D image from NOAA Exclusive Economic Zone Mapping Project Ridge to south of Pioneer Seamount Turbidity currents debouch from Pioneer Canyon, strike ridge, and are deflected Huge dune structures are formed which extend many miles to the south. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Trish Murphy, formerly of NOAA, takes a secchi depth reading to determine water turbidity and how it relates to the ability of the fish to recognize the sampling gillnets. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Secchi disc readings were used to determine turbidity at the reef site on a regular basis. The rope was marked at five foot intervals to determine at what distance the disc could no longer be seen on a horizontal axis. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |  | Surgeon fish, Naso unicornis, Acanthurus olivaceus, Acanthurus dussumieri, on reef during a low slightly greater turbidity episode. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |
 | Figure 8. Nepyric Turbidity Measurement Instrument. The Nepyric Corporation was involved for many years with studying numerous types of sediment samplers designed to retrieve suspended solids in flowing water, retained by dams, or in marine zones. One of these models was implemented in 1948 by Jean Serpaud and used for river sediment sampling. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Turbidity" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Turbidity" is used about 24 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 24 | 71,196 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "turbidity": turbidity-maximum. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
turbidity curtain | 402 |
turbidity | 89 |
turbidity meter | 22 |
barrier turbidity | 7 |
turbidity measurement | 5 |
turbidity analyzer | 5 |
nephelometric turbidity unit | 4 |
ntu turbidity | 4 |
turbidity unit | 3 |
curtain floating silt turbidity | 3 |
monitor turbidity | 3 |
turbidity of water | 3 |
turbidity definition | 3 |
barrier floating turbidity | 2 |
standard turbidity | 2 |
hach turbidity | 2 |
turbidity sensor | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "turbidity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | turbullirë (blur, cloudiness, commotion, fog, tumult, turbulence), trazim (agitation, commotion, disquiet, disquietude, distemper, disturbance, dust, elaboration, fidget, flurry, fluster, flutter, immixture, kneading, melange, mixing, mixture, perturbation, poke, turbulence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كدر (annoy, annoyance, cloudiness, distress, disturb, embitter, make turbid, muddiness, muddle, muddy, offend, roil, ruffle, spoil, trouble, turbid, unsettle), عكر (derange, disturb, muddle, muddy, roil, trouble, turbid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | размътеност, мътност (feculence, haze). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 浑浊. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | kalnost. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | uklarhed (confusion, opacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | troebelheid (cloudiness, opacity), verwardheid (confusion). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | sameus (cloudiness, muddiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | turbidité. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | trübheit (cheerlessness, cloudiness, dimness, dullness, fog, muddiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | θόλωμα (dimming), θολότησ (turbidness), θολότητα (bleariness, turbidness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | עכירות (fouling, opacity), עכיר" (fouling, opacity), עכרורית, "ליחות (filth, pollution). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | zavarosság (feculence, fuzziness, incoherence, incoherency, obscureness, turbidness), homályosság (ambiguity, blur, dullness, duskiness, haziness, murkiness, nebulosity, obscurity, opacity, tarnish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | kekeruhan (cloudiness, muddiness, unrest). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | torbidit (cloudiness, hebetude), sedimenti fini (suspended load, suspended sediment), materiali in sospensione torbida (suspended load, suspended sediment), limo (silt, slime). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 混濁 (muddiness), 濁度 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | "" く (muddiness), くど. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 탁도. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | urbiditytay turvação (cloudiness, haze). (various references) мутность (feculence, muddiness, turbidness). (various references) zamućenost (feculence), mutnost. (various references) turbiedad (cloudiness), turbidez (cloudiness, haze), material en suspensión (suspended load, suspended sediment). (various references) grumling (cloudiness, haze), grumlighet (feculence). (various references) yoğunluk (compactness, congestion, consistence, consistency, denseness, density, depth, intenseness, intension, intensity, thickness, volume), karışıklık (bedlam, bungle, cataclysm, chaos, clamor, clamour, clutter, commotion, complexity, complication, confusion, disarrangement, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disturbance, dogs dinner, embroilment, ferment, fermentation, fray, frenzy, fuss, fuss and kerfufle, grab bag, havoc, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hurly burly, imbroglio, indiscrimination, intricacy, involution, jungle, kerfufle, maziness, mess, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, perturbation, pie, pother, pretty kettle of fish, promiscuity, Ravel, riot, rough and tumble, ruckus, ruction, snafu, snarl, snarl up, stir, swirl, tangle, topsyturvy, topsyturvydom, tumble, turbulence, unrest, upheaval, upset, wooliness, woolliness), bulanıklık (blur, cloud, dimness, fog, haze, haziness, indistinctness, Mackle, muddiness). (various references) щільність (closeness, consistence, density, massiveness, tightness), туманність (fogginess, haziness, nebula, nebulosity, opacity), каламутність (feculence). (various references) tính chất lộn xộn (turbidness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Turbidity" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: turbitity. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "turbidity" (pronounced terbi"dutē) |
| 6 | -b i" d u t ē | morbidity. |
| 5 | -i" d u t ē | acidity, fluidity, humidity, illiquidity, liquidity, lividity, rapidity, rigidity, solidity, stupidity, superfluidity, timidity, validity. |
| 4 | -d u t ē | absurdity, commodity, heredity, nudity, oddity. |
| 3 | -u t ē | ability, abnormality, acceptability, accessibility, accountability, activity, actuality, acuity, adaptability, admissibility, adversity, advisability, affinity, affordability, aggressivity, agility, alacrity, alkalinity, ambiguity, amenity, amiability, amity, analyticity, animosity, annuity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, applicability, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, availability, banality, barbarity, believability, bestiality, biodiversity, bisexuality, brevity, brutality, calamity, capability, capacity, captivity, causality, cavity, celebrity, centrality, charity, chastity, civility, clarity, collegiality, commonality, community, comparability, compatibility, complexity, complicity, comprehensibility, conditionality, conductivity, confidentiality, conformity, congeniality, congruity, connectivity, constitutionality, continuity, convertibility, creativity, credibility, credulity, criminality, criticality, crotchety, culpability, curiosity, cyclicality, debility, deductibility, deformity, deity, deniability, density, dependability, depravity, deputy, desirability, dexterity, dignity, dimensionality, disability, discontinuity, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, docility, domesticity, duality, ductility, duplicity, durability, eccentricity, elasticity, electability, electricity, eligibility, enforceability, enmity, enormity, entity, equality, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, eventuality, exclusivity, expressivity, extraterritoriality, extremity, facility, fallibility, falsity, familiarity, fatality, feasibility, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, fertility, festivity, fidelity, finality, flammability, flexibility, formality, fragility, fraternity, frivolity, frugality, functionality, futility, generality, generosity, geniality, gentility, gratuity, gravity, gullibility, heterogeneity, heterosexuality, hilarity, homogeneity, homosexuality, hospitality, hostility, humanity, humility, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illegality, immaturity, immobility, immorality, immortality, immunity, impartiality, impersonality, impossibility, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inability, inaccessibility, inactivity, incapacity, incivility, incompatibility, incongruity, incredulity, indemnity, indestructibility, indignity, individuality, inequality, inequity, inevitability, infallibility, inferiority, infertility, infidelity, infinity, infirmity, inflexibility, informality, ingenuity, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, instability, instrumentality, insularity, integrity, intensity, invincibility, invisibility, invulnerability, irrationality, irregularity, irresponsibility, irritability, laity, laxity, legality, legibility, lethality, levity, liability, liberality, locality, longevity, majority, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, masculinity, materiality, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, mentality, minority, miscibility, mobility, modality, modernity, monstrosity, morality, mortality, motility, multiplicity, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, nativity, necessity, negativity, neutrality, nobility, Nonconformity, nonentity, nonutility, normality, notoriety, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, opacity, opportunity, originality, overcapacity, oversensitivity, palatability, parity, partiality, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, permeability, perpetuity, perplexity, personality, perversity, piety, plausibility, plurality, polarity, polity, pomposity, popularity, portability, possibility, posterity, practicality, predictability, principality, priority, probability, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, profitability, progressivity, promiscuity, propensity, proportionality, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, punctuality, purity, quality, quantity, radioactivity, rarity, rationality, reactivity, readability, reality, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, reliability, religiosity, respectability, responsibility, retroactivity, rickety, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, seasonality, security, selectivity, senility, seniority, sensibility, sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, serendipity, serenity, severity, sexuality, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, sorority, speciality, specificity, spirituality, spontaneity, stability, sterility, subjectivity, suitability, superconductivity, superiority, supermajority, surety, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, technicality, temerity, tenacity, theatricality, tonality, totality, toxicity, tranquility, transferability, Trinity, triviality, ubiquity, unanimity, unavailability, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, universality, university, unpopularity, unpredictability, unreality, unreliability, uppity, utility, vanity, variability, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, venality, veracity, Verity, versatility, viability, vicinity, virginity, virility, virtuosity, viscosity, visibility, vitality, volatility, voracity, vulgarity, vulnerability. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-d-i-i-r-t-t-u-y" | |
-3 letters: tidbit, turbid, turbit. | |
-4 letters: bitty, britt, bruit, butty, dirty, ditty, rutty. | |
-5 letters: bird, bitt, brit, brut, burd, bury, butt, dirt, drib, drub, duit, duty, irid, ruby, tidy, titi, turd, yird, yurt. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-d-i-i-r-t-t-u-y" | |
+3 letters: distributary, turbidimetry. | |
+4 letters: extrudability. | |
+5 letters: distributively, distributivity, indestructibly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
