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capillarity

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Capillarity: Water wets the walls of a capillary tube and thus rises, causing the upper surface, or meniscus, of the liquid to be concave; mercury does not wet the walls of a capillary tube and...

Mulholland, William

(Encyclopedia)Mulholland, William, 1855–1935, American engineer, b. Belfast, Ireland. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1877, becoming a laborer for the local water company. Despite his lack of formal training, he eve...

weathering

(Encyclopedia)weathering, collective term for the processes by which rock at or near the earth's surface is disintegrated and decomposed by the action of atmospheric agents, water, and living things. Some of these ...

fountain

(Encyclopedia)fountain, natural or artificially conveyed flow of water. In ancient Greece columnar shrines were built over springs and dedicated to deities or nymphs. In ancient Rome fountains fed by the great aque...

Croton Aqueduct

(Encyclopedia)Croton Aqueduct krōˈtən [key], 38 mi (61 km) long, SE N.Y., carrying water from the Croton River basin to New York City; built 1837–42. It was one of the earliest modern aqueducts in the United S...

Colorado–Big Thompson project

(Encyclopedia)Colorado–Big Thompson project, constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to divert water from the headstreams of the Colorado River to irrigate c.720,000 acres (291,400 hectares) of land in NE C...

geyser

(Encyclopedia)geyser gīˈzər [key] [Icel.], hot spring from which water and steam are ejected periodically to heights ranging from a few to several hundred feet. Notable geysers are found in Iceland, New Zealand,...

sap

(Encyclopedia)sap, fluid in plants consisting of water and dissolved substances. Cell sap refers to this fluid present in the large vacuole, or cell cavity, that occupies most of the central portion of mature plant...

hydrogen sulfide

(Encyclopedia)hydrogen sulfide, chemical compound, H2S, a colorless, extremely poisonous gas that has a very disagreeable odor, much like that of rotten eggs. It is slightly soluble in water and is soluble in carbo...

Mohawk, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Mohawk, river, c.140 mi (230 km) long, rising in central New York and flowing S then SE past Utica and Schenectady to enter the Hudson River at Cohoes. The Mohawk is canalized from Rome to its mouth (...