Susceptibility may refer to:
Physics and engineering
In physics the susceptibility is a quantification for the change of an
extensive property
Physical properties of materials and systems can often be categorized as being either intensive or extensive, according to how the property changes when the size (or extent) of the system changes. According to IUPAC, an intensive quantity is one ...
under variation of an
intensive property
Physical properties of materials and systems can often be categorized as being either intensive or extensive, according to how the property changes when the size (or extent) of the system changes. According to IUPAC, an intensive quantity is on ...
. The word may refer to:
* In
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, the susceptibility of a material or substance describes its response to an applied field. For example:
** Magnetic susceptibility
** Electric susceptibility
* The two types of susceptibility above are examples of a linear response function; sometimes the terms ''susceptibility'' and ''linear response function'' are used interchangeably.
*In electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), susceptibility is the sensitivity of a device's function to incoming electromagnetic interference
Health and medicine
* In epidemiology, a susceptible individual is a member of a population who is at risk of becoming infected by a disease
* In microbiology, pharmacology, and medicine drug susceptibility is the ability of a microorganism to be inhibited or killed by the drug, as in antibiotic sensitivity, antibiotic susceptibility, the susceptibility of microorganisms to antibiotics (often used synonymously with the lay term sensitivity)
Botany and environmental science
* Susceptibility to pathogens is the extent to which a plant, vegetation complex, or ecological community would suffer from a pathogen if exposed, without regard to the likelihood of exposure the opposite of Plant disease resistance
** It should not be confused with vulnerability, which by convention in this field takes into account both the effect of exposure ''and'' the likelihood of exposure
Military science
* The vulnerability of a target audience to particular forms of psychological warfare
See also
* Vulnerability
{{Disambiguation