Entries - D
dark matter |
Lower case. |
physics, style |
data |
"Data" can mean two rather different things, and this poses a style problem. |
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dates |
Dates should be written 24 April 2010 (not 24th). Do not add the day of the week. Use the following construction for spans of time: Willibald Karl Jentschke was delegate to council for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1964-67. Though this often reads better if reworded: |
style |
decades |
Use digits: the 1950s, 1960s etc. the roaring 20s a man in his 60s |
style |
decay |
Most often used in the context of particle decay. The kaon decayed into a pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair. |
physics |
decimals |
Decimals and percentages use the number, not the word: 2% and 50% and 2.6 kilometres. |
style |
degrees |
When referring to angles, spell out “degrees” (as for any other unit): The tower at Pisa has a tilt of more than 5 degrees For temperature, use °C Ethanol boils at 79 °C For latitude and longitude use ° (closed up to the numeral) Switzerland lies at latitude 47° north (note the lower case for north – or south, east or west) To make a degree (°) symbol on a Mac or a PC, use the key combination Alt-Shift-8 |
style |
department |
Lower case d. Likewise for group, section, etc. Use capital letters on the name of a department, but not on the word "department". CERN has many departments. While Physics is the largest, the Technology department is also substantial. |
style |
detectors |
All caps for ATLAS, ALICE, CMS, TOTEM. But LHCb, LHCf. |
style |
Director-General |
One of few titles that should be capitalized. Avoid abbreviating to DG. The hyphen is important. Here's an example from a photo caption which shows why: Stephen Hawking (left) with CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. The sentence above could be (incorrectly) interpreted to mean that Rolf Heuer is a (military) General, and he is also Director of CERN. The hyphen renders the compound adjective unambiguous - Heuer is a Director-General. The plural of Director-General is Directors-General. |
style |
disc or disk? |
Use disc with a "c" when you are referring to optical media such as a CD or DVD. All discs are removable, meaning when you eject the disc from your desktop, it physically comes out of your computer. Use disk with a "k" for magnetic media, such as a floppy disk, the disk in your computer's hard drive, an external hard drive. |
spelling, style |
discrimination |
style | |
dosimeter |
A device used to measure an absorbed dose of ionizing radiation. Do not confuse with Geiger counter. |
physics |
double-check |
Note the hyphen. |
grammar |
Downloads |
On Drupal websites at CERN, whenever you add a file field to a page, call it "Downloads". Keep this consistent across CERN websites.
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style |
duoplasmatron |
Another great physics word. A duoplasmatron is a type of ion source. It operates as follows: a cathode filament emits electrons into a vacuum chamber. A gas such as argon is introduced in very small quantities into the chamber, where it becomes charged or ionized through interactions with the free electrons from the cathode, forming a plasma. The plasma is then accelerated through a series of at least two highly charged grids, and becomes an ion beam, moving at fairly high speed from the aperture of the device. |
physics |