Cylinder vs. Prism — What's the Difference?

A cylinder (from Greek: κύλινδρος, romanized: kulindros, lit. 'roller', 'tumbler') has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. It is the idealized version of a solid physical tin can having lids on top and bottom.

An optical prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. At least one surface must be angled — elements with two parallel surfaces are not prisms.

A solid geometrical figure with straight parallel sides and a circular or oval cross section.

A solid figure whose bases or ends have the same size and shape and are parallel to one another, and each of whose sides is a parallelogram.

A piston chamber in a steam or internal combustion engine.

A transparent body of this form, often of glass and usually with triangular ends, used for separating white light passed through it into a spectrum or for reflecting beams of light.

A cylinder-shaped container holding liquefied gas under pressure.

A cut-glass object, such as a pendant of a chandelier.

A rotating metal roller in a printing press.

A crystal form consisting of three or more similar faces parallel to a single axis.

A cylinder seal.

A medium that misrepresents whatever is seen through it.

The surface generated by a straight line intersecting and moving along a closed plane curve, the directrix, while remaining parallel to a fixed straight line that is not on or parallel to the plane of the directrix.

(geometry) A polyhedron with parallel ends of the same size and shape, the other faces being parallelogram-shaped sides.

The portion of such a surface bounded by two parallel planes and the regions of the planes bounded by the surface.

A transparent block in the shape of a prism (typically with triangular ends), used to split or reflect light.

A solid bounded by two parallel planes and such a surface, especially such a surface having a circle as its directrix.

A crystal in which the faces are parallel to the vertical axis.

A cylindrical container or object.

A solid whose bases or ends are any similar, equal, and parallel plane figures, and whose sides are parallelograms.

The chamber in which a piston of a reciprocating engine moves.

A transparent body, with usually three rectangular plane faces or sides, and two equal and parallel triangular ends or bases; - used in experiments on refraction, dispersion, etc.

The chamber of a pump from which fluid is expelled by a piston.

A polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms

The rotating chamber of a revolver that holds the cartridges.

Optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image

Any of several rotating parts in a printing press, especially one that carries the paper.

(Archaeology)A cylindrical stone or clay object with an engraved design or inscription.

(geometry) A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve. Category:en:Surfaces

(geometry) A solid figure bounded by a cylinder and two parallel planes intersecting the cylinder.

Any object in the form of a circular cylinder.

A cylindrical cavity or chamber in a mechanism, such as the counterpart to a piston found in a piston-driven engine.

(automotive) The space in which a piston travels inside a reciprocating engine or pump.

A container in the form of a cylinder with rounded ends for storing pressurized gas; a gas cylinder.

An early form of phonograph recording, made on a wax cylinder.

The part of a revolver that contains chambers for the cartridges.

(computing) The corresponding tracks on a vertical arrangement of disks in a disk drive considered as a unit of data capacity.

(transitive) To calender; to press (paper, etc.) between rollers to make it glossy.

A solid body which may be generated by the rotation of a parallelogram round one its sides; or a body of rollerlike form, of which the longitudinal section is oblong, and the cross section is circular.

Any hollow body of cylindrical form

The revolving square prism carrying the cards in a Jacquard loom.

A cylindrical container for oxygen or compressed air

A solid bounded by a cylindrical surface and two parallel planes (the bases)

A surface generated by rotating a parallel line around a fixed line

A chamber within which piston moves