Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

van allen radiation belt

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.82 in modern English

Syllables: van al-len ra-di-a-tion -belt
IPA

27

Scrabble Score

21

Letters

6

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Either of two torus-shaped areas of high-energy charged particles which partly surround Earth, trapped by its magnetic field. The areas are characterised by intense radiation. When the belts "overload", particles strike the upper atmosphere and fluoresce, causing the polar aurora.

Etymology

From James Alfred Van Allen, US physicist.

Inflected Forms

Van Allen radiation belts (plural)

Synonyms

Van Allen belt

Questions

What does van allen radiation belt mean?: Either of two torus-shaped areas of high-energy charged particles which partly surround Earth, trapped by its magnetic field. The areas are characterised by intense radiation. When the belts "overload", particles strike the upper atmosphere and fluoresce, causing the polar aurora.
Where does van allen radiation belt come from?: From James Alfred Van Allen, US physicist.

How to pronounce van allen radiation belt

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “van allen radiation belt”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “van allen radiation belt”.
Repeat and practice — Say “van allen radiation belt” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.