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Richter scale

(Encyclopedia)Richter scale rĭkˈtər [key], measure of the magnitude of seismic waves from an earthquake. Devised in 1935 by the American seismologist Charles F. Richter (1900–1985) and technically known as the...

heat

(Encyclopedia)heat, nonmechanical energy in transit, associated with differences in temperature between a system and its surroundings or between parts of the same system. The study of heat and its relationship ...

specific heat

(Encyclopedia)specific heat, ratio of the heat capacity of a substance to the heat capacity of a reference substance, usually water. Heat capacity is the amount of heat needed to change the temperature of a unit ma...

low-temperature fusion

(Encyclopedia)low-temperature fusion: see cold fusion. ...

temperature-humidity index

(Encyclopedia)temperature-humidity index: see humidity. ...

gas laws

(Encyclopedia)gas laws, physical laws describing the behavior of a gas under various conditions of pressure, volume, and temperature. Experimental results indicate that all real gases behave in approximately the sa...

Enhanced Fujita scale

(Encyclopedia)Enhanced Fujita scale: see Fujita scale. ...

Saffir-Simpson scale

(Encyclopedia)Saffir-Simpson scale săfˈər– [key], standard scale for rating the severity of hurricanes as a measure of the damage they cause; it is based on observations of numerous North Atlantic Basin hurric...

scale, in cartography

(Encyclopedia)scale, in cartography, the ratio of the distance between two points on a map to the real distance between the two corresponding points portrayed. The scale may be expressed in three ways: numerically,...

scale, in music

(Encyclopedia)scale, in music, any series of tones arranged in a step-by-step rising or falling order of pitch. A scale defines the interval relationship of each tone to the others upon which the composition depend...