Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

hardening

(Encyclopedia)hardening, in metallurgy, treatment of metals to increase their resistance to penetration. A metal is harder when it has small grains, which result when the metal is cooled rapidly. Sometimes small ar...

Anhui

(Encyclopedia)Anhui or Anhwei both: änˈhwāˈ [key], province, c.55,000 sq mi (142,450 sq km), E central China. Hefei is the capital. Anhui may be divided into two climatic areas. The north...

Duluth

(Encyclopedia)Duluth dəlo͞othˈ [key], city (2020 pop. 86,697), seat of St. Louis co., NE Minn., at the w...

Chongqing

(Encyclopedia)Chongqing cho͞ongˈkĭngˈ [key], city and independent municipality, 592 sq mi (1,534 sq km), in SE ...

Coahuila

(Encyclopedia)Coahuila kōäwēˈlä [key], state, 58,067 sq mi (150,394 sq km), N Mexico, on the northward ...

selenium

(Encyclopedia)selenium səlēˈnēəm [key], nonmetallic chemical element; symbol Se; at. no. 34; at. wt. 78.96; m.p. 217℃; b.p. about 685℃; sp. gr. 4.81 at 20℃; valence −2, +4, or +6. Selenium is directly ...

Pyongyang

(Encyclopedia)Pyongyang pēyŭngˈyängˈ [key], Chin. Pingyang, Jap. Heijo, city (1993 pop. 2,741,260), capital of North Korea, SW North Korea, on a high bluff above the Taedong River. It is a special city with th...

cerium

(Encyclopedia)cerium sērˈēəm [key] [from the asteroid Ceres], metallic chemical element; symbol Ce; at. no. 58; at. wt. 140.116; m.p. 799℃; b.p. 3,426℃; sp. gr. 6.77 at 25℃; valence +3 or +4. Cerium is a ...

Lachine

(Encyclopedia)Lachine ləshēnˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 35,266), S Que., Canada, on Montreal island, at the east end of Lake St. Louis just SW of Montreal. Its industries include iron and steel foundries and the ma...

Mie

(Encyclopedia)Mie mēˈā [key], prefecture (1990 pop. 1,792,542), S Honshu, Japan, on Ise Bay. Tsu (the capital), Ise (a major Shintoist center), Yokkaichi, Matsusaka, and Kuwana are the chief cities. Mie has trad...

Browse by Subject