critical mass
/ˌkrɪtɪkəl ˈmæs/
the minimum amount required to start or maintain a venture
critical mass in a sentence
“The social network reached critical mass and grew exponentially.”
Origin of critical mass
Physics term (1940s) referring to nuclear chain reactions
Related Words
tipping point
the point at which a series of small changes becomes significant enough to cause a larger change
entropy
a measure of disorder or randomness in a system
homeostasis
the tendency toward a stable equilibrium
redundancy
the inclusion of extra components for reliability
bottleneck
a point of congestion in a system that slows down the overall process
catalyst
an agent that provokes or speeds up significant change or action