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explosive

(Encyclopedia)explosive, substance that undergoes decomposition or combustion with great rapidity, evolving much heat and producing a large volume of gas. The reaction products fill a much greater volume than that ...

Tyler, John

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, John, 1790–1862, 10th President of the United States, b. Charles City co., Va. Tyler, nominated by a small Democratic faction, had withdrawn from the 1844 election. In Feb., 1861, he pres...

sacrifice

(Encyclopedia)sacrifice [Lat. sacrificare=to make holy], a type of religious offering, or gift to a superior or supreme being, in which the offering is consecrated through its destruction. The Paleolithic evidenc...

common law

(Encyclopedia)common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the co...

spectrum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dispersion of white light by a triangular prism spectrum, arrangement or display of light or other form of radiation separated according to wavelength, frequency, energy, or some other propert...

exploration

(Encyclopedia)exploration, travel to a part of the earth that is relatively unknown to the traveler's culture, historically often motivated by a desire for colonization, conquest, or trade. See also space explorati...

Swedish literature

(Encyclopedia)Swedish literature, literary works in the Swedish language. In the early 20th cent. the fiction of Hjalmar Söderberg presaged a renewed emphasis on restraint and realism. Ludvig Nordström, Gust...

tragedy

(Encyclopedia)tragedy, form of drama that depicts the suffering of a heroic individual who is often overcome by the very obstacles he is struggling to remove. The protagonist may be brought low by a character flaw ...

espionage

(Encyclopedia)espionage ĕsˈpēənäzhˌ [key], the act of obtaining information clandestinely. The term applies particularly to the act of collecting military, industrial, and political data about one nation for ...

quantum theory

(Encyclopedia)quantum theory, modern physical theory concerned with the emission and absorption of energy by matter and with the motion of material particles; the quantum theory and the theory of relativity togethe...