Grains are the seeds or fruits of various food plants including cereal grasses. The examples of wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye and rice provide a partial list. Grain foods include foods such as bread, cereals, rice and pasta.
A weight measurement used for bullets. The more grains, the heavier the bullet. Powder is also measured by grains, but this is generally of interest mostly to reloaders. There are 7000 grains to a pound.
A unit for measuring the weight of moisture in air, expressed as grains per pound (gpp) of dry air. It is determined by use of a psychometric chart when temperature and humidity are known. Seven thousand (7000) grains equals one pint of liquid, which weighs approximately one pound.
Discrete particles larger than 0.074 mm. They may form the rock framework, similar to sand grains in a sandstone, or they may be subordinate to smaller particles in the rock.
Exposed and developed silver halides which form black metallic silver grains which produce the photographic image. Generally speaking the higher the film speed (ASA - ISO) the greater the grain effect. So a 1600 ASA will produce excessive grainy looking images, whilst a 50 ASA will produce fine grain and much better photos. Fast film is used mainly for low light photography; e.g. Astrophotography and dark interiors where flash is not allowed. The film's emulsion's sensitivity to light also influences physical properties, such as grain size. In other words a direct relationship exists between the sensitivity of the film and the apparent size of the silver grains which make up the final image quality. Films which are high sensitivity to light are characterized by larger silver grain particles, whilst The lower sensitivity films produce much smaller grain particles.
In metallurgy, a cluster of crystals with a common orientation. Grain size is important to knifemakers because grain size affects the strength of a metal. A large-grain structure, because it has fewer grain boundaries, is not as strong as small-grained material.