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thermite

(Encyclopedia)thermite [from Thermit, a trade name], mixture of powdered or granular aluminum metal and powdered iron oxide. When ignited it gives off large amounts of heat. In wartime it has been used in incendiar...

Maryville

(Encyclopedia)Maryville, city (1990 pop. 19,208), seat of Blount co., E Tenn.; settled around Fort Craig (built 1785), inc. as a town 1830, as a city 1927. With its twin city, Alcoa, it is an important center for t...

shape memory

(Encyclopedia)shape memory, property possessed by certain alloys that allows them to return, when heated, to their original shape after having been deformed. This effect results because, as the alloy is deformed, i...

brass

(Encyclopedia)brass, alloy having copper (55%–90%) and zinc (10%–45%) as its essential components. The properties of brass vary with the proportion of copper and zinc and with the addition of small amounts of o...

West, Franz

(Encyclopedia)West, Franz, 1947–2012, Austrian artist, known especially for his eccentric and fanciful sculpture, studied Academy of Applied Arts, Vienna. He first became known in the 1970s for his “adaptives,�...

napalm

(Encyclopedia)napalm nāˈpäm [key], incendiary material developed during World War II by Harvard scientists cooperating with the U.S. army and used in bombs and flame throwers. Napalm is based on a mixture of gas...

Bayer process

(Encyclopedia)Bayer process, procedure for obtaining alumina from the aluminum ore bauxite. The alumina can then be used for various industrial purposes or smelted to provide aluminum. The first step in the process...

kaolinite

(Encyclopedia)kaolinite kāˈəlĭnīt [key], clay mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic system and forming the chief constituent of china clay and kaolin. It is a hydrous aluminum silicate commonly formed by the...

Youngstown

(Encyclopedia)Youngstown, city (1990 pop. 95,732), seat of Mahoning co., NE Ohio, near the Pa. line; founded 1797, inc. 1849. It was formerly a major U.S. iron and steel center. In the 1970s many of the steel mills...

amphoterism

(Encyclopedia)amphoterism ămˌfətĕrˈĭzm [key], in chemistry, the property of certain substances of acting either as acids or as bases depending on the reaction in which they are involved. Many hydroxide compou...