Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

292 results found

gunmetal

(Encyclopedia)gunmetal, a bronze, an alloy of copper, tin, and a small amount of zinc. Although originally used extensively for making guns (from which it received its name), it has been superseded by steel, and it...

malleability

(Encyclopedia)malleability, property of a metal describing the ease with which it can be hammered, forged, pressed, or rolled into thin sheets. Metals vary in this respect; pure gold is the most malleable. Silver, ...

cyanide process

(Encyclopedia)cyanide process or cyanidation, method for extracting gold from its ore. The ore is first finely ground and may be concentrated by flotation; if it contains certain impurities, it may be roasted. It i...

magnalium

(Encyclopedia)magnalium măgnāˈlēəm [key], alloy of aluminum and about 5% magnesium. Although weak and soft in the elemental state, magnesium alloys with aluminum, manganese, zinc, tin, zirconium, and cerium to...

Leninogor

(Encyclopedia)Leninogor lyĕˌnyĭnəgôrskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 68,706), NE Kazakhstan, in the Altai Mts. It is a mining center in an area that is the chief source of Kazakh zinc and lead. Silver, copper, and ...

barite

(Encyclopedia)barite bərīˈtēz [key] [New Lat., from barium], or heavy spar, a white, yellow, blue, red, or colorless mineral. It is a sulfate of barium, BaSO4, found in nature as tabular crystals or in granular...

Cranbrook

(Encyclopedia)Cranbrook, city, SE British Columbia, Canada. It is a lumbering, tourism, and lead-zinc mining center.

German silver

(Encyclopedia)German silver, name for various alloys of copper, zinc, and nickel, sometimes also containing lead and tin. They were originally named for their silver-white color, but use of the term silver is now p...

Buchans

(Encyclopedia)Buchans, town, central Newfoundland, N.L., Canada, on Red Indian Lake. It has a large mine that yields lead, silver, zinc, and copper. ...

Chinese white

(Encyclopedia)Chinese white: see zinc oxide.