instability

instability
  the continued rising of an air mass as it is warmer than the surrounding, or environmental, air. This is especially common after the rising mass has passed the dew point and so cools at the saturated adiabatic lapse rate as the release of latent heat keeps the mass warmer. The term instability is used as the continued rising leads to further opportunity for condensation and thus the build up of large, dense storm clouds.

Geography Dictionary & Glossary for Students \\ ITS Tutorial School (ITS) - Hong Kong.

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  • Instability — In sta*bil i*ty, n.; pl. {Instabilities}. [L. instabilitas: cf. F. instabilit[ e].] [1913 Webster] 1. The quality or condition of being unstable; lack of stability, firmness, or steadiness; liability to give way or to fail; insecurity;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • instability — UK US /ˌɪnstəˈbɪləti/ noun [U or C] (plural instabilities) ► ECONOMICS, POLITICS the fact of a situation being likely to change, in a way that is worrying, or the changes that happen: political/economic instability »Investors should keep in mind… …   Financial and business terms

  • instability — [in΄stə bil′ə tē] n. 1. lack of stability; unstableness; specif., a) lack of firmness or steadiness b) lack of determination; irresolution 2. tendency to behave or react violently or erratically [the instability of a chemical compound, emotional… …   English World dictionary

  • instability — instability. См. нестабильность. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • instability — index doubt (indecision), fault (weakness), frailty, inconsistency, indecision, jeopardy, risk …   Law dictionary

  • instability — early 15c., from M.Fr. instabilite inconstancy, from L. instabilitatem (nom. instabilitas) unsteadiness, from instabilis unsteady, from in not, opposite of (see IN (Cf. in ) (1)) + stabilis (see STABLE (Cf. stable) (2)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • instability — [n] imbalance, inconstancy alternation, anxiety, capriciousness, changeability, changeableness, disequilibrium, disquiet, fickleness, fitfulness, flightiness, fluctuation, fluidity, frailty, hesitation, immaturity, impermanence, inconsistency,… …   New thesaurus

  • instability — ► NOUN (pl. instabilities) ▪ lack of stability …   English terms dictionary

  • Instability — [ Hydrodynamics simulation of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability [Shengtai Li, Hui Li Parallel AMR Code for Compressible MHD or HD Equations (Los Alamos National Laboratory) [http://math.lanl.gov/Research/Highlights/amrmhd.shtml] ] ] Instability in… …   Wikipedia

  • instability — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ increased ▪ growing, increasing ▪ inherent, internal ▪ the inherent instability of financial markets ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

  • instability — [[t]ɪ̱nstəbɪ̱lɪti[/t]] instabilities N UNCOUNT: also N in pl Instability is the quality of being unstable. ...unpopular policies, which resulted in social discontent and political instability. ...Caligula s inherent mental instability... The… …   English dictionary

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