disintegration

Etymology

disintegrate + -ion or dis- + integration.

noun

1. A process by which anything disintegrates.
   A Pan American World Airways, Inc., B-707-321B, N761PA, experienced an explosive disintegration of the third stage turbine disk of the No. 4 engine at approximately 1410 P.d.t, June 28, 1965. The accident occurred shortly after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, at an altitude of about 800 feet above the ground. Disintegration of the turbine disk was followed by a fire in the No. 4 engine area and an explosion in the outboard reserve fuel tank. The No. 4 engine and approximately 25 feet of the right outer wing separated from the aircraft. 28 September 1966, Civil Aeronautics Board, “Synposis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Pan American World Airways, Inc., B-707-321B, N761PA, San Francisco, California, June 28, 1965, retrieved 2022-11-25, page 1
2. The condition of anything which has disintegrated.
3. (geology) The wearing away or falling to pieces of rocks or strata, produced by atmospheric action, frost, ice, etc.
4. (nuclear physics) The process of radioactive decay.
   1. The radioactive decay of a single atom.
      The sample exhibited an activity of three disintegrations per second.