Scientists Say: Discharge

Discharge (noun or verb, “DIS-charge”)

Discharge is the release of something, matter or energy. The word can refer to the stuff being emitted. Or it can describe the action of something’s release.

Many forms of discharge exist. In biology, discharge might refer to blood or pus leaking from a wound. Or sweat leaking from a person’s pores. In ecology, discharge may refer to a sewage treatment plant releasing clean water into a river.

In physics, discharge may describe the release of materials — like pressurized gas blasting out of a container. But physicists also use the word discharge to describe a release of energy. Lightning is one example. It occurs when electric charges build up in the atmosphere and cause a sudden discharge of electricity.

In a sentence

Scientist have detected the discharge of “mini-lightning” in the thin Martian atmosphere.

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