The major diameter of a screw or bolt is the widest portion of the shank and is used to identify the size of the fastener. It plays a key role in screw identification systems, and can be measured using a micrometer. Suppliers provide charts to help identify screw measurements, including major and minor diameter and […]
Pitch diameter is used to measure the diameter of gears and screws. Pitch measures the distance between teeth on a gear and the lead on a screw. The pitch diameter of a screw falls between the major and minor diameter of the thread. Gears have both a pitch and an outside diameter, with the pitch […]
Angular diameter measures the size an object appears to be, proportional to its actual size divided by distance. Astronomers use arcseconds and radians to measure objects in space, and telescopes can view objects as narrow as 0.1 arcsecond. The human hand can also estimate angular diameter, with the little finger covering 1° and a fist […]
Beam diameter is the size of a beam of light or electromagnetic radiation. It can be measured in different ways and is important for laser applications. Beam quality is affected by diameter and divergence, and smaller lasers require improvements in design to maintain high quality. Beam diameter is a measure of the size of a […]
