plucker tube

2 definitions found

plucker tube - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Geissler tube \Geis"sler tube`\ (Elec.)
     A glass tube provided with platinum electrodes, and
     containing some gas under very low tension, which becomes
     luminous when an electrical discharge is passed through it;
     -- so called from the name of a noted maker in germany. It is
     called also Pl["u]cker tube, from the German physicist who
     devised it.
     [1913 Webster]

  Plucker tube \Pl["u]ck"er tube\ [So named after Julius
     Pl["u]cker, a German physicist.] (Physics)
        (a) A vacuum tube, used in spectrum analysis, in which the
            part through which the discharge takes place is a
            capillary tube, thus producing intense incandescence
            of the contained gases.
        (b) Crookes tube.
            [Webster 1913 Suppl.]