Drift is the state of a ship, a car, a sailboat. Meaning and interpretation

The concept of "drift" is used to describe the forward uncontrolled motion. This word is often used by sailors, electricians, racing drivers, physicians. In English, drift means "flow", "current", "inaction", "go with the flow", "drift". The term also describes the state of deviation from the course of motion.

Where is the term used?

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 down or with the submarine screws stopped.

Most used phrases:

• The drift of a ship or an ice floe downstream - the ship moves without control.
• Drifters - this is the riders, letting the car into an uncontrolled drift.
• Eye drift - a person does not try to dislodge the pupil, but there is a smooth and involuntary movement.
• Drift of the motor is the rotation of the motor shaft without monitoring its position.
• The drift is a shift in the position of the electron, the continents, the gene, the islands.

In electrical engineering, the drift is the slow lateral directional displacement of electrons from rapid motion under the action of an electric field.

Values from literature

The word "drift" is described in the following dictionaries:

1. Efremova: displacement of the position of a ship, boat or other sea vessel under the influence of water movement, air flow.
2. Medical literature: the shift of the eye from a predetermined position while moving - according to the version of ophthalmologists. Psychologists define the word as barely perceptible vibration of the pupil, leading to destabilization of the visible image.
3. Ushakov: "to calm the movement of the ship with sails in one direction". In another sense, the drift is the angular displacement of the marine object relative to the axis of the structure.
4. Dahl: lateral displacement of the ship, angular measure of motion. Vibrations when anchored in stormy weather.
5. Brockhaus and Efron: the angular deviation of the bead from the chosen direction. The displacement is influenced by waves, currents, wind.

Dictionaries under the authorship of Chudinov, Popov, Mikhelson, Pavlenkov have similar interpretations of the word.

In navigation and motor racing

If the ship went into the open sea, the drift is normal. Modern liners are less susceptible to displacement from the chosen direction. But sailboats, frigates, yachts are sensitive not only to the current, they deviate even from the wind of small force.

This often happens when you stop over the sandy bottom, when the anchor is not firmly entangled in the ground. After a night stay, the ship can be demolished for several meters. These moments try to take into account weather forecasts and not to leave the helm near rocks, shallows or other marine objects.

Displacement of the course occurs also during the movement. The drift is the angular magnitude measured in the sector of the axis line of the ship and the specified trajectory. This term describes the position of the vessel, in which the yacht or frigate remains stationary in strong wind. This state is achieved by a certain position of sails.

Among the car racers, the word "drifting" means creating a drift position in which the body of the car moves sideways in an uncontrolled skid, but along a given trajectory. Scores are earned by the participant who has used slip for the longest time at high speed. And the deviation begins to count only after the loss of adhesion of rubber with the road.

Application in the science of heredity

In the 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 reasons for the homogeneity of individuals in large areas.

The changes are brought about by random phenomena:

1. Change in population size.
2. Correlation of age and gender.
3. Conditions of life of people and animals: food, activity, ways of earning or hunting.
4. Level of competition.

The expression "gene flow" means the fluctuation in the frequency of the occurring genes in a population, which is influenced by excessive emigration and immigration. Scientists believe that the phenomenon under consideration leads to the appearance of more than 90% of individuals with a new genetic structure. The crossing procedure refers to the necessary measure to maintain the animal population.