Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Fwd: albedo: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/9/25
Subject: albedo: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 25, 2013

albedo \al-BEE-doh\, noun:

1. the white, inner rind of a citrus fruit.
2. Astronomy. the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.
3. Meteorology. such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.

The taste of citrus fruits is created by a handful of substances, including citric acid (so named because it is typical of the family), sugars, and certain bitter phenolic compounds, which are usually concentrated in the albedo and peel.
-- Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, 2004

From deep space the rift had been visible only as a change in albedo, a dark scar slicing across the world.
-- Alastair Reynolds, Absolution Gap, 2005

Albedo entered English in the 1850s. It comes from the Latin word albēdō meaning "whiteness."

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