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Does the sentence Reduced nuclear charge is called Effective nuclear charge mean

  1. The portion(or amount) of nuclear charge that is reduced. OR
  2. The result( remaining amount) after some portion of the nuclear charge is reduced.

The whole sentence of which the above is a part is:

There is a reduction in the nuclear charge due to screening effect, reduced nuclear charge is called Effective nuclear charge.

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  • 1
    The company will pay reduced wages next week. In that context, obviously the highlighted noun phrase means the wages remaining after reduction. But in a context like the reduced workers' compensation benefit cannot be less than the supplementary minimum benefit, it's equally obvious that the highlighted noun phrase refers to the workers removed from the workforce. In other words, the actual syntax doesn't fix the interpretation. You have to use context + common sense. Feb 10, 2021 at 14:02
  • Thank you very much @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica
    – Guri
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:21

1 Answer 1

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It is talking about the remaining amount (i.e., your no.2).

Reduced:

less than before or less than usual

reduced costs/hours/rates The industry's workers have been subjected to reduced hours and the potential for layoffs.

("reduced hours" here is equal to total hours less number of hours not available anymore)

If the intended meaning was "the portion (or amount) of nuclear charge that is reduced" (your no. 1) then it would say something like this:

The amount of reduction in the nuclear charge is called ...

Or

The amount by which the nuclear charge is reduced is called ...

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  • Thank you so much @AIQ
    – Guri
    Feb 10, 2021 at 10:16

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