Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

poison gas

(Encyclopedia)poison gas, any of various gases sometimes used in warfare or riot control because of their poisonous or corrosive nature. These gases may be roughly grouped according to the portal of entry into the ...

dynamics

(Encyclopedia)dynamics, branch of mechanics that deals with the motion of objects; it may be further divided into kinematics, the study of motion without regard to the forces producing it, and kinetics, the study o...

mechanics

(Encyclopedia)mechanics, branch of physics concerned with motion and the forces that tend to cause it; it includes study of the mechanical properties of matter, such as density, elasticity, and viscosity. Mechanics...

gas, fuel

(Encyclopedia)gas, fuel, gaseous substance that burns in air and releases enough heat to be useful as a fuel, while also remaining sufficiently stable at ordinary temperatures to permit long-term storage without de...

Oxford, Edward de Vere, 17th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Oxford, Edward de Vere, 17th earl of, 1550–1604, English poet, b. Castle Heddingham, Essex, educated at Queens' and St. John's colleges, Cambridge. He traveled in Italy, acted in and produced plays,...

petrochemical

(Encyclopedia)petrochemical, any one of a large group of chemicals derived from a component of petroleum or natural gas. The cracking processes for manufacturing gasoline produce vast quantities of gaseous hydrocar...

incinerator

(Encyclopedia)incinerator, furnace for burning refuse. The older and simpler kind of incinerator was a brick-lined cell with a metal grate over a lower ash pit, with one opening in the top or side for loading and a...

Regnault, Henri Victor

(Encyclopedia)Regnault, Henri Victor äNrēˈ vēktôrˈ rənyōˈ [key], 1810–78, French physicist and chemist. He was professor of chemistry at the École polytechnique, Paris, from 1840 and at the Collège de ...

liquefaction

(Encyclopedia)liquefaction, change of a substance from the solid or the gaseous state to the liquid state. Since the different states of matter correspond to different amounts of energy of the molecules making up t...

Ramsay, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Ramsay, Sir William, 1852–1916, Scottish chemist. He was professor of chemistry at University College, Bristol (1880–87), and at University College, London (1887–1912). In his early experiments ...