To describe the progressive uncontrolled movement using the concept of "drift". This word is often used by sailors, electricians, car racers, doctors. Translated from English, drift means “flow”, “flow”, “inaction”, “go with the flow”, “drift”. The term also describes the state of deviation from the course of movement.
Where does the term apply?
Drift is a word that can be used to describe any uncontrolled process of translational motion. It is most often used in navigation when a sailboat or other ship moves with the sails lowered or the propellers stopped.
Most used phrases:
- Drift of a ship or ice floe - a ship moves without control.
- Drifters are riders letting a car into an uncontrollable drift.
- Eye drift - a person does not try to displace the pupil, but its smooth and involuntary movement is observed.
- Motor drift - rotation of the motor shaft without controlling its position.
- A drift is a shift in the position of an electron, continents, gene, islands.
In electrical engineering, drift is a slow lateral directional displacement of electrons from fast movement under the influence of an electric field.
Values from the literature
The word "drift" is described in the following dictionaries:
- Efremova: the displacement of the position of a ship, boat or other marine vessel under the influence of water movement, air flow.
- Medical literature: eye displacement from a given position when moving - according to ophthalmologists. Psychologists define the word as subtle vibrations of the pupil, leading to the destabilization of the visible image.
- Ushakov: "to calm the movement of the vessel with sails in one direction." In another value, drift is the angular displacement of a marine object relative to the axis of the structure.
- Distance: lateral displacement of the ship, angular measure of movement. Fluctuations when anchoring in stormy weather.
- Brockhaus and Efron: the angular value of the deviation of the side from the selected direction. Displacement is affected by waves, current, wind.
Dictionaries authored by Chudinov, Popov, Michelson, Pavlenkov have similar interpretations of the word.
In sailing and car racing
If the ship went into the open sea, drift is normal. Modern liners are less prone to shifting from the selected direction. But sailboats, frigates, yachts are sensitive not only to the flow, they deviate even from the wind of small force.
This often happens when stopping over a sandy bottom, when the anchor does not firmly bind in the ground. After an overnight stay, the ship can carry a few meters. They try to take these moments into account according to weather forecasts and not to throw the helm near rocks, shallows or other marine objects.
The course shift occurs during movement. Drift is an angular quantity, measured in the sector of the line of the axis of the ship and a given trajectory. This term describes the position of the vessel in which the yacht or frigate remains stationary in strong winds. This state is achieved by a certain position of the sails.
Among racing drivers, the word “drift” means to create a skid position in which the car body moves sideways in an uncontrolled skid, but along a predetermined path. Points are earned by the participant who used gliding at high speed for the longest time. Moreover, the deviation begins to count only after the loss of adhesion of rubber with the road.
Application in the science of heredity
In studies of genetic dynamics, there is the concept of “gene drift” - this is the effect of the disappearance and appearance of new genotypic structures in animals and humans. The term in question refers to the study of the causes of the homogeneity of individuals in vast territories.
Random phenomena lead to changes:
- Change in population.
- The ratio of age and gender.
- Living conditions of people and animals: food, activity, ways of earning or hunting.
- Level of competition.
The expression “gene flow” means a fluctuation in the frequency of genes found in a population, excessive emigration and immigration affect this process. Scientists believe that this phenomenon leads to the emergence of more than 90% of individuals with a new genetic structure. The crossing procedure refers to the necessary measure to maintain the animal population.