Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kamerlingh Onnes, Heike

(Encyclopedia)Kamerlingh Onnes, Heike hīˈkə käˈmərlĭng ônˈəs [key], 1853–1926, Dutch physicist. He was, from 1882, professor of physics at the Univ. of Leiden. He made important studies of the propertie...

calcination

(Encyclopedia)calcination kălˌsənāˈshən [key], in metallurgy, process of heating solid material to drive off volatile chemically combined components, e.g., carbon dioxide. It is sometimes a step in the extrac...

superconductivity

(Encyclopedia)superconductivity, abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain substances. The phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who found that the resistance of mercury dropped sudd...

carboxyl group

(Encyclopedia)carboxyl group kärbŏkˈsĭl [key], in chemistry, functional group that consists of a carbon atom joined to an oxygen atom by a double bond and to a hydroxyl group, OH, by a single bond. Carboxylic a...

Rzeszów

(Encyclopedia)Rzeszów zhĕˈsho͞of [key], city (1992 est. pop. 156,000), capital of Podkarpackie prov., SE Poland. It is a railway junction and an important industrial center, whose major industries produce metal...

Peabody

(Encyclopedia)Peabody pēˈbədē, –bädē [key], city (1990 pop. 47,039), Essex co., NE Mass., a suburb of Boston, on the Danvers River; settled c.1633, inc. as South Danvers 1855, name changed 1868. Little is l...

Chełm

(Encyclopedia)Chełm khĕlm [key], Rus. Kholm, city, Lubelskie prov., E Poland. It is a railway junction an...

Chieti

(Encyclopedia)Chieti kyĕˈtē [key], city, capital of Chieti prov., Abruzzi region, central Italy, on the ...

fatigue, in engineering

(Encyclopedia)fatigue, in engineering, microscopic cracking of materials, especially metals, after repeated applications of stress. Fissures may be formed within pieces of metal during their manufacture when, while...

Pori

(Encyclopedia)Pori pôˈrē [key], Swed. Björneborg, city (1998 pop. 76,375), Western Finland prov., SW Finland, near the mouth of the Kokemaënjoki River. Timber and metals are exported, and chemical and wood pro...

Browse by Subject