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chiffon

(Encyclopedia)chiffon shĭfŏnˈ [key], plain-weave, lightweight, sheer, transparent fabric made of cotton, silk, or synthetic fiber; it is made of fine, highly twisted, strong yarn. Chiffon is difficult to handle,...

bimetallism

(Encyclopedia)bimetallism bīmĕtˈəlĭzˌəm [key], in economic history, monetary system in which two commodities, usually gold and silver, were used as a standard and coined without limit at a ratio fixed by leg...

boric acid

(Encyclopedia)boric acid, any one of the three chemical compounds, orthoboric (or boracic) acid, metaboric acid, and tetraboric (or pyroboric) acid; the term often refers simply to orthoboric acid. The acids may be...

carbon

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The three solid forms of pure carbon: In the diamond crystal each carbon atom is surrounded symmetrically by four other carbons (at each of the four corners of a tetrahedron). In the graphite c...

Newlands, John Alexander Reina

(Encyclopedia)Newlands, John Alexander Reina, 1838–98, British chemist. He studied at the Royal College of Chemistry in London and worked as an industrial chemist. Newlands prepared the first periodic table of el...

Nyköping

(Encyclopedia)Nyköping nüˈchöˌpĭng [key], city (1990 pop. 26,380), capital of Södermanland co., SE Sweden, a port on the Baltic Sea. It is a commercial and industrial center, producing flour, textiles, iron ...

Rydberg, Johannes Robert

(Encyclopedia)Rydberg, Johannes Robert yo͞oˈhänəs rôˈbərt rüdˈbĕryə [key], 1854–1919, Swedish physicist. Rydberg was a professor at Lund from 1901 to 1919. He is best known for his grouping of the freq...

Gassendi, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Gassendi, Pierre pyĕr gäsäNdēˈ [key], 1592–1655, French philosopher and scientist. A teacher and priest, Gassendi taught at Digne, Aix, and the Royal College at Paris and held several church of...

Hertz, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Hertz, Gustav go͝osˈtäf hĕrts [key], 1887–1975, German physicist. He is noted for his work on the atom, and he shared with James Franck the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics for research (1914) on the...

Haas, Arthur Erich

(Encyclopedia)Haas, Arthur Erich häs [key], 1884–1941, American physicist and educator, b. Bohemia. He was professor of physics at Vienna, Leipzig, London, and, from 1936, the Univ. of Notre Dame, South Bend, In...