Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Narbonne närbônˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 47,086), Aude dept., S France, near the Mediterranean coast. It is the commercial center of a wine-growing region and an industrial city producing sulfur, co...

(Encyclopedia) obelisk ŏbˈəlĭsk [key], slender four-sided tapering monument, usually hewn of a single great piece of stone, terminating in a pointed or pyramidal top. Among the ancient Egyptians these monoliths ...

(Encyclopedia) Nayarit näyärētˈ [key], state (1990 pop. 824,643), 10,547 sq mi (27,317 sq km), W Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. Tepic is the capital. Mostly wild and rugged, Nayarit is broken by western spurs of ...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Black Country, highly industrialized region, historically mostly in Staffordshire but partly in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, W central England. It includes Dudley, Rowley Regis (see Warley), Tipto...

(Encyclopedia) Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé lwē zhäk mäNdāˈ dägârˈ [key], 1789–1851, French scene painter and physicist, inventor of the daguerreotype, a photograph produced on a silver-coated copper pla...

(Encyclopedia) formaldehyde fôrmălˈdəhīdˌ [key], HCHO, the simplest aldehyde. It melts at −92℃, boils at −21℃, and is soluble in water, alcohol, and ether; at STP, it is a flammable, poisonous, colorle...

(Encyclopedia) Taurus tôrōsˈ [key], mountain chain, S Turkey, extending c.350 mi (560 km) roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast of S Asia Minor. It forms the southern border of the Anatolian plateau. Its no...

(Encyclopedia) thallium thălˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Tl; at. no. 81; interval in which at. wt. ranges 204.382–204.385; m.p. 303.5℃; b.p. about 1,457℃; sp. gr. 11.85 at 20℃; valence +...

(Encyclopedia) Aberdeen ăbˈərdēnˌ [key]. 1 Town (2020 pop. 15,935), Harford co., NE Md., in a farm region; inc. 1892. Just south, on Chesapeake Bay, is the U.S. army's huge Aberdeen...