voltile

Voltile is not a recognized technical term in standard use; it is typically a misspelling of volatile. The correct term volatile has several related meanings across science and computing.

In chemistry and physics, volatility describes the tendency of a substance to vaporize. Substances with high vapor pressure at a given temperature are considered volatile; the concept is quantified by vapor pressure and boiling point. Volatile substances vaporize readily under ambient conditions and can present flammability hazards and odor emission. In practice, volatility influences distillation, solvent selection, atmospheric transport, and the behavior of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

In computing, volatile is used as a programming qualifier. A volatile variable may be changed by external factors such as other threads, hardware, or interrupt service routines; the qualifier prevents the compiler from applying certain optimizations that assume stable values. Volatile memory, such as RAM, loses its contents when power is removed. The concept is important in systems programming for memory-mapped I/O, real-time data access, and multi-threaded synchronization.

Etymology: volatile derives from Latin volatilem, from volare to fly, via volatilis, reflecting its sense of alacrity or tendency to vaporize.

See also: volatility, volatile organic compounds, volatile memory, volatile (computing).