Phase

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phase may refer to:

• in science and engineering:
  • Phase (matter), a physically distinctive form of a substance, such as the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of ordinary matter
  • Phase (waves), the angular position of the phasor within a cycle of a periodic waveform.
    • Fourier transform, the angle of a complex coefficient produced by a Fourier transform
    • Phase shift or phasing - relative phase shift in superposing waves
  • in system theory:
    • In a complex system, a phase is a behaviour that emerges from the interactions of components at a smaller scale.
  • in astronomy:
    • Planetary phase, the appearance of the illuminated section of a planet
    • Lunar phase, the appearance of the Moon as viewed from the Earth
  • in biology:
    • A phase of the cell cycle in which cells divide and reproduce.
  • in electrical engineering:
    • Electrical power phase such as three-phase or single-phase, or 3 phase loads.
    • Polyphase system, a means of distributing alternating current electrical power in overlapping phases
  • in linguistics:
    • Phase (syntax), a syntactic domain hypothesized by Noam Chomsky.
  • in computing:
    • Phase, CMS ecommerce application powered by the Phase Engine phase.com
• in popular culture and fiction:
  • Phase 10, a card game created by Fundex Games
  • Phasing, a card ability from the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering
  • "Phase technology", a branch of hyper-advanced science in some science fiction, which allows solid objects to pass through one another. Such properties that have explored the concept include comic book characters Shadowcat and the Vision, the Necrons in the Warhammer 40,000 science fiction game, the Tollan in Stargate SG-1, and experimented with unsuccessfully by Star Trek's United Federation of Planets and Romulan Star Empire. The term was also used in the science fiction thriller Hollow Man, but its effects more closely resembled invisibility, and did not include the ability to pass solid objects through one another
  • Phases (Buffy episode), an episode of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • Phases (.hack). The Eight Phases are fictional boss monsters from the .hack franchise.

Phasing can mean one of the following:

• Phasing, a technique in musical composition
• Marching band phasing
• Phasing (ability), a fictional or hypothetical supernatural ability to pass through solid objects
• Phasing (Magic mechanic) a creature mechanic in Magic: The Gathering
• Phasing, A process of interpretive and excavation techniques of associating archaeological contexts to produce near contemporaneous horizons in the archaeological sequence of a site. Known in excavation as "digging in phase"

Phaser can mean one of the following:

• actual devices:
  • Phaser (effect), in electronics, an audio signal processor used to distort the signal
• fictional devices:
  • Phaser (fictional weapon), in the Star Trek fictional universe, a fictional beam weapon commonly used by the protagonists
• commercial products:
  • Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response rifle (PHASR), an actual Dazzler
  • Phaser, Xerox's trade name for makes of thermal transfer printers, solid ink printers and color laser printers. An example of Xerox Phaser color printers.
  • Phaser, in the Novell networking environment, is part of an old command that executes through a login script which plays a sound file called phasers.wav, with the following syntax: "fire phasers <number of times>."
    • Also referred to as phase shifting
  • Light Phaser, a lightgun for the Sega Master System

See also Phasor