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Broecker, Wallace Smith

(Encyclopedia)Broecker, Wallace Smith brōkˈər [key], 1931–2019, American geophysicist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Columbia, 1958. He was a member of Columbia's faculty from 1959. In the 1970s he predicted rising temper...

weathering

(Encyclopedia)weathering, collective term for the processes by which rock at or near the earth's surface is disintegrated and decomposed by the action of atmospheric agents, water, and living things. Some of these ...

sulfuric acid

(Encyclopedia)sulfuric acid, chemical compound, H2SO4, colorless, odorless, extremely corrosive, oily liquid. It is sometimes called oil of vitriol. Although sulfuric acid is now one of the most widely used c...

hydrogen sulfide

(Encyclopedia)hydrogen sulfide, chemical compound, H2S, a colorless, extremely poisonous gas that has a very disagreeable odor, much like that of rotten eggs. It is slightly soluble in water and is soluble in carbo...

Rhea, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Rhea, in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn V (or S5), Rhea is 950 mi (1530 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 327,487 mi (527,...

peroxide

(Encyclopedia)peroxide pərŏkˈsīd [key], chemical compound containing two oxygen atoms, each of which is bonded to the other and to a radical or some element other than oxygen; e.g., in hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, ...

sudden infant death syndrome

(Encyclopedia)sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or crib death, sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age (usually between two weeks and eight months old). SID...

metabolite

(Encyclopedia)metabolite, organic compound that is a starting material in, an intermediate in, or an end product of metabolism. Starting materials are substances, usually small and of simple structure, absorbed by ...

carbonate

(Encyclopedia)carbonate kärˈbənātˌ, –nət [key], chemical compound containing the carbonate radical or ion, CO3−2. Most familiar carbonates are salts that are formed by reacting an inorganic base (e.g., a ...

mineral water

(Encyclopedia)mineral water, spring water containing various mineral salts, especially the carbonates, chlorides, phosphates, silicates, sulfides, and sulfates of calcium, iron, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodiu...