atomic pile
atomic pile noun: an early nuclear reactor fueled by uranium and moderated with graphite.
Noun
atomic pile (plural atomic piles)
- An early nuclear reactor fueled by uranium and moderated with graphite.
- 1948 The second atomic pile at the Government's research establishment at Harwell […] is expected to be brought into use this summer – The Times (London), May 11 1948, pg 2 col A
- Synonyms:
- nuclear pile
atomic pile meaning in Tamil
atomic pile in Tamil
- அணு உலை
Synonyms of atomic pile
Forms of atomic pile
| plural | atomic piles |
|---|
Origin of atomic pile
From the fact that the first nuclear reactor, at the University of Chicago in 1942-1943, was literally constituted by a tall pile (heap) of graphite moderator blocks. Compare also charcoal pile, a traditional improvised kiln used in charcoal making, which uses a similar basic design to contain a volatile process. The fact that English pile also is related to French pile (“battery”) (with senses of a collection of components and a power source, often both coinstantiated) has also been noted as an interesting nexus of word roots and semantic themes.
Questions about atomic pile
- What does atomic pile mean?
- Atomic pile means an early nuclear reactor fueled by uranium and moderated with graphite.
- What is atomic pile in Tamil?
- Atomic pile in Tamil is அணு உலை. See Atomic pile meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is atomic pile?
- Atomic pile is a noun.
- What is the plural of atomic pile?
- The plural of atomic pile is atomic piles.
Words near atomic pile in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: atomic pile (page history and authors); atomic pile (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “atomic pile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/atomic_pile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.