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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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ultrasonics
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1992-09-02
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18 lines
The study and application of the sound and
vibrations produced by ultrasonic pressure
waves (see ultrasound). The earliest
practical application was to detect
submarines during World War I, but recently
the field of ultrasonics has greatly
expanded. Frequencies above 80,000 Hz have
been used to produce echoes as a means of
measuring the depth of the sea, to detect
flaws in metal, and, in medicine,
high-frequency pressure waves are used to
investigate various body organs (ultrasonic
scanning). High-power ultrasound has been
used with focusing arrangements to destroy
tissue deep in the body, and extremely high
frequencies (1,000 MHz or more) are used in
ultrasonic microscopes.