Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Erie Railroad, rail transportation line designed to connect the mouth of the Hudson River with the Great Lakes region. The New York and Erie RR Company was enfranchised and incorporated in 1832, and c...

(Encyclopedia) goatsucker, common name for nocturnal or crepuscular birds of the order Caprimulgiformes, which includes the frogmouth, the oilbird, potoos, and nightjars. Goatsuckers are medium in size and are found...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Cross section of heart, with arrows indicating direction of blood flow heart, muscular organ that pumps blood to all parts of the body. The rhythmic beating of the heart is a ceaseless activit...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 A. AM transmitter B. AM receiver radio, transmission or reception of electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range. The term is commonly applied also to the equipment used, especially...

(Encyclopedia) Beach Boys, The, American rock music band formed in 1961 by brothers Brian Wilson, 1942–, Dennis Wilson, 1944–83, and Carl ...

(Encyclopedia) rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, ho...

(Encyclopedia) reading, process of mentally interpreting written symbols. Facility in reading is an essential factor in educational progress, and instruction in this basic skill is a primary purpose of elementary ed...

(Encyclopedia) wave, in physics, the transfer of energy by the regular vibration, or oscillatory motion, either of some material medium or by the variation in magnitude of the field vectors of an electromagnetic fie...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Relations between potential energy (PE) and kinetic energy (KE) for a swinging pendulum energy, in physics, the ability or capacity to do work or to produce change. Forms of energy include hea...

(Encyclopedia) Phillips, Wendell, 1811–84, American reformer and orator, b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1831; LL.B., 1834). He was admitted to the bar in 1834 but, having sufficient income of his own, he abandone...