Dictionary:

saturation

  (săch'ə-rā'shən)

1. 1. The act or process of saturating.
   2. The condition of being saturated.
   3. The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction; satiety.
2. Physics. A state of a ferromagnetic substance in which an increase in applied magnetic field strength does not produce an increase in magnetization.
3. Chemistry. The state of a compound or solution that is fully saturated.
4. Meteorology. A condition in which air at a specific temperature contains all the water vapor it can hold; 100 percent relative humidity.
5. Vividness of hue; degree of difference from a gray of the same lightness or brightness. Also called intensity.
6. Intensive shelling or bombing of a military target to achieve total destruction.
7. The flooding of a market with all of a commodity that consumers can purchase.

The condition in which, after a sufficient increase in a causal force, further increase in the force produces no additional increase in the resultant effect. Many natural phenomena display saturation. For example, after a magnetizing force becomes sufficiently strong, further increase in the force produces no additional magnetization in a magnetic circuit; all the magnetic domains have been aligned, and the magnetic material is saturated. See also Magnetic materials.

After a sponge has absorbed all the liquid it can hold, it is saturated. In thermionic vacuum tubes thermal saturation is reached when further increase in cathode temperature produces no (or negligible) increase in cathode current; anode saturation is reached when further increase in plate voltage produces substantially no increase in anode current. See also Distortion (electronic circuits); Saturation current; Vacuum tube.

In colorimetry the purer a color is, the higher its saturation. Radiation from a color of low saturation contains frequencies throughout much of the visible spectrum. See also Colorimetry.

(1) On magnetic media, a condition in which the magnetizable particles are completely aligned and a more powerful writing signal will not improve the reading back.

(2) In a bipolar transistor, a condition in which the current on the gate (the trigger) is equal to or greater than what is necessary to close the switch.

Media: strategy for achieving maximum impact by increasing advertising coverage and frequency above standard levels. For instance, a retailer would schedule more advertisements during a sale.

Printing: degree to which a color is chromatically pure and free of dilution from white, black, or gray. The less dilution, the more intense the color appears. See also chroma; hue.

Greater than normal presence in the market, achieved by, for example, providing a store outlet in every neighborhood or advertising so frequently that everyone has heard the message numerous times.

1. a condition in which a solution contains as much solute as can remain dissolved. 2. a measure of the degree to which oxygen is bound to hemoglobin, expressed as a percentage of the possible limit. 3. a chemical compound in which all the valency bonds have been filled.

There is a constant exchange of water molecules between liquid water, or ice, and the air, as evaporation and condensation take place. Saturation vapour pressure, (es) depicts a balance in the air between condensation and evaporation. es is greater in water droplets than in sheet water, and lower in impure water than in pure. See Raoult's Law. Where es in an air parcel is greater than e, the ambient vapour pressure, there will be net evaporation; where e is greater than es, there will be net condensation.

For more information on saturation, visit Britannica.com.

1. The condition under which air at a given temperature and pressure holds the maximum amount of water vapor without causing precipitation.
2. The degree of purity of a color. A color is said to be saturated when it contains no white.

The state of being saturated, or the act of saturating.

• s. kinetics — point of high initial concentration of substrate after which the rate of reaction is independent of further increases in initial substrate concentration, and the enzyme is saturated with substrate.

Condition in which a further increase in one variable produces no further increase in the resultant effect. In a bipolar junction transistor, the condition when the emitter to collector voltage is less than the emitter to base voltage. This condition puts forward bias on the base to collector junction.

Saturation or saturated generally means "thoroughly full", while unsaturated means less than full. These terms may be related to:

• Dew point, which is a temperature that occurs when atmospheric humidity reaches 100% and the air can hold no more moisture
• Market saturation, in economics, a situation in which a product has become diffused (distributed) within a market
• Saturated model, a concept in mathematical logic
• Saturation (album), an album by the alternative rock band Urge Overkill
• Saturation (biology), in mutation studies, the observed number of mutations relative to the maximum amount possible (usually undefined).
• Saturation (chemistry), multiple definitions for chemistry
• Saturation (color theory), the intensity of a specific hue
• Saturation intent, a rendering intent in color management.
• Saturation (magnetic), the state when the material cannot absorb a stronger magnetic field
• Oxygen saturation, a clinical measure of the amount of oxygen in a patient's blood
• Saturation (telecommunications), a number of meanings
• Saturation arithmetic, in arithmetic, a version of arithmetic in which all operations are limited to fixed range
• Saturated Fat
• In the earth sciences, saturation generally refers to the water content in the soil, where the unsaturated zone is above the water table and the saturated zone is below.
• A saturated liquid or saturated vapor contains as much thermal energy as it can without boiling or condensing.
• A saturated transistor is a BJT transistor that is fully turned on.

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