drift


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Related to drift: Drift velocity, drift current

drift

1. the extent to which a vessel, aircraft, projectile, etc. is driven off its course by adverse winds, tide, or current
2. a general tendency of surface ocean water to flow in the direction of the prevailing winds
3. a controlled four-wheel skid, used by racing drivers to take bends at high speed
4. Geography a loose unstratified deposit of sand, gravel, etc., esp one transported and deposited by a glacier or ice sheet
5. a tapering steel tool driven into holes to enlarge or align them before bolting or riveting
6. an uncontrolled slow change in some operating characteristic of a piece of equipment, esp an electronic circuit or component
7. South African a ford
8. Engineering a copper or brass bar used as a punch
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

drift

[drift]
(engineering)
A gradual deviation from a set adjustment, such as frequency or balance current, or from a direction.
The deviation, or the angle of deviation, of a borehole from the vertical or from its intended course.
To measure the size of a pipe opening by passing a mandrel through it.
(geology)
Rock material picked up and transported by a glacier and deposited elsewhere.
Detrital material moved and deposited on a beach by waves and currents.
(mechanical engineering)
The water lost in a cooling tower as mist or droplets entrained by the circulating air, not including the evaporative loss.
(mining engineering)
A horizontal mine opening which follows a vein or lies within the trend of an ore body. Also known as gallery.
(navigation)
The movement of a craft caused by the action of wind or current.
To move gradually from a set position without control.
(oceanography)
(solid-state physics)
The movement of current carriers in a semiconductor under the influence of an applied voltage.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

drift

1. The lateral deflection of a building, due to wind or other loads.
2. In a water spray device, the entrained unevaporated water carried from the device by air movement through it.
4. A deposit of loose materials such as gravel, rock fragments, clay and other soils which have been driven together by water, wind, or ice.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

drift

drift
drift
i. The lateral divergence from the prescribed flight path of an aircraft resulting primarily from the effects of a crosswind.
ii. A slow movement in one direction of an instrument pointer or other marker.
iii. A slow change in frequency of a radio transmitter.
iv. The angular deviation of the spin axis of a gyro from a fixed reference in space.
v. The angular deviation of a heading indicator of a gyrocompass resulting from either real or apparent precession. See apparent drift.
vi. The movement of a parachutist downwind.
vii. In ballistics, a shift in projectile direction caused by a gyroscopic action that results from gravitational and atmospherically induced torque or the earth's rotation.
viii. The failure of photograph(s) to stay on the predetermined flight line. If the drifting is excessive, repeated flights will have to be made because of serious gaps between adjacent flight lines.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

drift

Change in frequency or time synchronization of a signal that occurs slowly.
Copyright © 1981-2019 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Drift

 

the lateral deviation from the plane of fire of a rotating artillery shell (bullet) during its flight through the air.

Drift is explained by the gyroscopic property possessed by the rotating shell. When the shell is moving in a straight line, the axis of its own rotation coincides with the direction of movement. Influenced by the force of gravity, the projectile’s trajectory curves, the tangent of the trajectory (which coincides with the direction of movement) grows continually lower, and the axis of the shell’s own rotation tries to maintain its own position in space, forming an angle with the tangent to the trajectory. The force of air resistance begins to act at an angle to the axis of the shell, which leads to the appearance of a moment that overturns the shell and of a component of the force of air resistance that is perpendicular to the axis of the shell. Influenced by the overturning moment, the shell makes a precessional movement, during which the axis of the shell’s rotation moves around the tangent to the trajectory, describing a cone whose apex is the center of the mass of the shell.

When the tangent is steadily dropping, this movement occurs asymmetrically relative to the direction of movement. Depending on the direction of the shell’s own rotation (right or left rifling in the bore of the gun), its nose will normally be more to the right than the left (or the opposite), that is, the precessional movement of the shell occurs around an axis deflected from the direction of movement to the right (or to the left), which is called the axis of dynamic equilibrium. As a result of this a perpendicular force arises that carries the shell’s center of mass to the right (or left) of the plane of fire; that is, it causes drift. The magnitude of drift depends on the curve of the trajectory and the rate of the shell’s precession; the smaller the curve of the trajectory, the smaller the drift will be. This explains why drift is insignificant with flat trajectories and short firing ranges and why it is not present when firing vertically upward.

Drift is taken into account by making corrections when firing; in some cases, compensation occurs automatically, having been done when the sighting devices were set. The phenomenon of drift was studied in 1865-70 and first explained by the Russian scientist N. V. Maievskii.

IU. V. CHUEV and K. A. NIKOLAEV


Drift

 

with regard to ships, the displacement of a moving ship from the line of its set course under the influence of wind and waves. Drift is characterized by its angle, that is, the angle between the longitudinal axis of the ship and the direction of its actual motion. Drift is included in the calculation of the ship’s course. To “lie in drift” means to hold the ship in place, compensating for the action of the wind and the waves by the engine, the sails, the floating anchor, or other means. The term “drift” also means the movement of a ship if the engine does not work and the ship is moving under the influence of the wind or the current, for instance, if the anchor is “creeping” along the bottom.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
The damaged drifts have paralysed transport, making business activities more costly as traders use the longer alternative route to take their commodities to Kaloleni and Mombasa.
Drift collections were conducted in two directions of jet inclination: one with nozzles inclined against the wind flow direction (upwind), and the other in the same direction of the wind flow (downwind).
Frequently, your first drift tells you how well you did, giving you a good reference for drift number two.
Caption: Daryl and Jason Masingale say it can take time to learn how to drift, but once mastered it can be one of the best ways to catch big catfish.
Red Bull Car Park Drift took place for the first time in 2008 in a shopping centre in Beirut.
The research further revealed drivers are mostly likely to drift to the right and are more likely to drift when travelling in the afternoon, perhaps as a result of tiredness.
The Red Bull Drift Shifters concept was originally dreamt up by New Zealand professional drifter "Mad" Mike Whiddett, debuting in his home town of Auckland back in 2012.
Described by the seller as "the most famous 350 Z in the world", the car is one of only two Nissan 350Z's that survived the production of Tokyo Drift.
Once a configuration drift occurs, ensuring the stability of the environment becomes extremely difficult.
Red Bull Car Park Drift Qualifier Oman crowned a reigning champ-ion last weekend.
Pattern drift becomes very apparent under those conditions.