Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) buffer, solution that can keep its relative acidity or alkalinity constant, i.e., keep its pH constant, despite the addition of strong acids or strong bases. Buffer solutions are frequently solutions ...

(Encyclopedia) Conestoga wagon kŏnˌəstōˈgə [key], heavy freight-carrying vehicle of distinctive type that originated in the Conestoga region of Pennsylvania c.1725. It was used by farmers to carry heavy loads ...

(Encyclopedia) umbilical cord ŭmbĭlˈĭkəl [key], cordlike structure about 22 in. (56 cm) long in the pregnant human female, extending from the abdominal wall of the fetus to the placenta. Its chief function is t...

(Encyclopedia) Huron hyo͝orˈänˌ [key], confederation of four Native North American groups who spoke the Wyandot language, which belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native Am...

(Encyclopedia) gross national product (GNP), in economics, a quantitative measure of a nation's total economic activity, generally assessed yearly or quarterly. In estimating the GNP, only the final value of a produ...

(Encyclopedia) Aso-san äˈsō-sän [key] or Mount Aso, volcanic mountain, central Kyushu, Japan. Aso-san is topped by one of the world's largest calderas (circumference 75 mi/121 km) that contains five volcanic con...

(Encyclopedia) Port Sudan so͞odănˈ [key], city (1993 pop. 308,195), NE Sudan, on the Red Sea. The country's major seaport, it handles the bulk of Sudan's foreign trade. The city is also a rail terminus that serve...

(Encyclopedia) Wasatch Range wôˈsăch [key], part of the Rocky Mts., extending c.250 mi (400 km) south from SE Idaho to central Utah. Mt. Timpanogos, the highest peak (12,008 ft/3,660 m), is the site of Timpanogos...

(Encyclopedia) Senior, Nassau, 1790–1864, English economist. A graduate of Oxford, he was called there in 1825 to fill the first chair of political economy in England. In An Outline of the Science of Political Eco...

(Encyclopedia) Ohlin, Bertil bĕrˈtĭl ōˈlĭn [key], 1899–1979, Swedish economist, b. Klippan. A professor at several Swedish universities, he wrote the influential Interregional and International Trade (1933, ...