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acetic acid

(Encyclopedia)acetic acid əsēˈtĭk [key], CH3CO2H, colorless liquid that has a characteristic pungent odor, boils at 118℃, and is miscible with water in all proportions; it is a weak organic carboxylic acid (s...

blowfly

(Encyclopedia)blowfly, name for flies of the family Calliphoridae. Blowflies are about the same size as, and resemble, the housefly; because they are usually metallic blue or green they are also called bluebottle o...

Brown, Herbert Charles

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Herbert Charles, 1912–2004, American chemist, b. London, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1938. A professor at Wayne State Univ. (1943–47) and Purdue Univ. (1947–78), he shared the 1979 Nobel Priz...

autotroph

(Encyclopedia)autotroph ôtˈətrōfˌ [key], in biology, an organism capable of synthesizing its own organic substances from inorganic compounds. Autotrophs produce their own sugars, lipids, and amino acids using ...

Fischer, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Fischer, Hans, 1881–1945, German organic chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Marburg, 1904; M.D. Univ. of Munich, 1908. Fischer was a professor at the Univ. of Innsbruck from 1916 to 1918 and at the Univ. of Vi...

soil

(Encyclopedia)soil, surface layer of the earth, composed of fine rock material disintegrated by geological processes; and humus, the organic remains of decomposed vegetation. In agriculture, soil is the medium that...

phosphorylation

(Encyclopedia)phosphorylation, chemical process in which a phosphate group is added to an organic molecule. In living cells phosphorylation is associated with respiration, which takes place in the cell's mitochondr...

exobiology

(Encyclopedia)exobiology or astrobiology, search for extraterrestrial life within the solar system and throughout the universe. Philosophical speculation that there might be other worlds similar to ours dates back ...

functional group

(Encyclopedia)CE5 functional group, in organic chemistry, group of atoms within a molecule that is responsible for certain properties of the molecule and reactions in which it takes part. Organic compounds are f...

manure

(Encyclopedia)manure, term used in the United States to refer to excreta of animals, with or without added bedding; also called barnyard manure. In other countries the term often refers to any material used to fert...