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liquefied petroleum gas

(Encyclopedia)liquefied petroleum gas or LPG, mixture of gases, chiefly propane and butane, produced commercially from petroleum and stored under pressure to keep it in a liquid state. The boiling point of liquefie...

octane number

(Encyclopedia)octane number, figure of merit representing the resistance of gasoline to premature detonation when exposed to heat and pressure in the combustion chamber of an internal-combustion engine. Such detona...

haze

(Encyclopedia)haze, suspension in the atmosphere of minute dust or salt particles that are not individually seen but that nevertheless reduce visibility. So-called damp haze and dry haze produce different optical e...

snowmobile

(Encyclopedia)snowmobile, vehicle designed to travel over snow, ice, and similar surfaces that offer limited traction and weight-supporting capability. As the performance of the vehicle depends to a large extent on...

marine engine

(Encyclopedia)marine engine, machine for the propulsion of watercraft. The earliest marine power plants, reciprocating steam engines, were used almost exclusively until the early 1900s. In later ship construction t...

chemical reaction

(Encyclopedia)chemical reaction, process by which one or more substances may be transformed into one or more new substances. Energy is released or is absorbed, but no loss in total molecular weight occurs. When, fo...

carburetor

(Encyclopedia)carburetor kärˈbyərāˈtər, –bə– [key], part of a gasoline engine in which liquid fuel is converted into a vapor and mixed with a regulated amount of air for combustion in the cylinders. Land...

energy, sources of

(Encyclopedia)energy, sources of, origins of the power used for transportation, for heat and light in dwelling and working areas, and for the manufacture of goods of all kinds, among other applications. The develop...

flame

(Encyclopedia)flame, phenomenon associated with the chemical reaction of a gas that has been heated above its kindling temperature with some other gas, usually atmospheric oxygen (see combustion). The heat and ligh...

Levitt, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Levitt, Michael, 1947–, British-Israeli-American biophysicist, b. South Africa, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1971. Levitt was a faculty member at Cambridge from 1974 to 1979 and at the Weizmann Institute in Isr...

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