Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) water glass or soluble glass, colorless, transparent, glasslike substance available commercially as a powder or as a transparent, viscous solution in water. Chemically it is sodium silicate, potassium...

(Encyclopedia) Qom kôm [key], city (1991 pop. 681,253), Tehran prov., W central Iran. Located in a semiarid region, it is an industrial and transportation center. Its manufactures include textiles, glass, pottery, ...

(Encyclopedia) stoneware, hard pottery made from siliceous paste, fired at high temperature to vitrify (make glassy) the body. Stoneware is heavier and more opaque than porcelain and differs from terra-cotta in bein...

(Encyclopedia) Nagoya näˌgōˈyä [key], city (1990 pop. 2,154,793), capital of Aichi prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, on Ise Bay. A major port, transportation hub, and industrial center, it has iron- and steelw...

(Encyclopedia) Nuristan no͝orĭstănˈ [key] [Persian,=land of light or the enlightened], region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, NE Afghanistan, bordered on the E by Pakistan. Formerly called Kafiristan [...

(Encyclopedia) Ischia ēsˈkyä [key], volcanic island, 18 sq mi (47 sq km), Campania, S Italy, in the Tyrrh...

(Encyclopedia) Fermanagh fərmănˈə [key], district, 656 sq mi (1,699 sq km), SW Northern Ireland. Enniskillen is the major town, ...

(Encyclopedia) kiln kĭl, kĭln [key], furnace for firing pottery and enamels, for making brick, charcoal, lime, and cement, for roasting ores, and for drying various substances (e.g., lumber, chemicals). Kilns may ...

(Encyclopedia) Bennington, town (2020 pop. 15,333), seat of Bennington co., SW Vt.; chartered 1749, settled 1761. It includes the villages of North Bennington and Old ...

(Encyclopedia) willow-pattern ware, sometimes porcelain but frequently opaque pottery, originated in Staffordshire, England, c.1780. Thomas Minton (see Minton, family), then an apprentice potter, developed and engra...