Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bermuda Triangle

(Encyclopedia)Bermuda Triangle, area in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida where a number of ships and aircraft have vanished. Also known as the Devil's Triangle, it is bounded at its points by Melbourne, Fla.; Bermuda...

Tea Party

(Encyclopedia)Tea Party, in the early 21st cent., U.S. political movement that arose in reaction to the economic crisis of 2008 and the government rescue and aid measures for the financial, automobile, and other in...

pulley

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pulleys: The mechanical advantage (MA) of a system of pulleys is equal to the number of supporting strands: in A MA=1 and in B MA=2. pulley, simple machine consisting of a wheel over which a r...

gasoline

(Encyclopedia)gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and “cracking” of pet...

Aston, Francis William

(Encyclopedia)Aston, Francis William, 1877–1945, English physicist and chemist. He was affiliated with the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, from 1910. In 1922 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry mainly for h...

Marl, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Marl märl [key], city (1994 pop. 92,590), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany. It is an industrial and mining (coal, lead, and zinc) center, and also supports a number of chemical factories. Now a mo...

Ritz, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Ritz, Walter, 1878–1909, Swiss physicist. He taught at the universities of Zürich and Göttingen. Ritz's combination principle, confirmed by later research, stated that the frequencies of spectral ...

Cox, David

(Encyclopedia)Cox, David, 1783–1859, English landscape painter, a follower of John Constable. He is best known for his watercolors of Welsh scenery, of which he produced a great number. Cox is well represented in...

United Church of Canada

(Encyclopedia)United Church of Canada, Protestant denomination formed in 1925 by the union of the Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches in Canada. A large number of Presbyterian congregations, howeve...

Poland China swine

(Encyclopedia)Poland China swine, oldest breed of swine to have originated in the United States and one of the most popular. A number of strains have contributed to the development of this breed, notably the Irish ...

Browse by Subject