Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) energy, sources of, origins of the power used for transportation, for heat and light in dwelling and working areas, and for the manufacture of goods of all kinds, among other applications. The develop...

(Encyclopedia) arsenic ärˈsənĭk [key], a semimetallic chemical element; symbol As; at. no. 33; at. wt. 74.92160; m.p. 817℃ (at 28 atmospheres pressure); sublimation point 613℃; sp. gr. (stable form) 5.73; va...

(Encyclopedia) steel, alloy of iron, carbon, and small proportions of other elements. Iron contains impurities in the form of silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and manganese; steelmaking involves the removal of these imp...

(Encyclopedia) antimony ănˈtĭmōˌnē [key] [Lat. antimoneum], semimetallic chemical element; symbol Sb [Lat. stibium,=a mark]; at. no. 51; at. wt. 121.760; m.p. 630.74℃; b.p. 1,750℃; sp. gr. (metallic form) ...

(Encyclopedia) Sulawesi sĕlˈəbēz [key], island (1990 pop. 12,511,163), c.73,000 sq mi (189,070 sq km), largest island in E Indonesia, E of Borneo, from which it is separated by the Makasar Strait. Extremely irre...

(Encyclopedia) superconductivity, abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain substances. The phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who found that the resistance of mercury dropped sudd...

(Encyclopedia) Tbilisi tĭfˈlĭs, Rus. tĭflyēsˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,259,682), capital of Georgia, SW Asia, on the Kura River and the Transcaucasian RR and at the southern end of the Georgian Military Road. ...

(Encyclopedia) hydrocarbon hīˌdrōkärˈbən [key], any organic compound composed solely of the elements hydrogen and carbon. The hydrocarbons differ both in the total number of carbon and hydrogen atoms in their ...

(Encyclopedia) iodine īˈədīn, –dĭn [key] [Gr.,=violet], nonmetallic chemical element; symbol I; at. no. 53; at. wt. 126.90447; m.p. 113.5℃; b.p. 184.35℃; sp. gr. 4.93 at 20℃; valence −1, +1, +3, +5, o...

(Encyclopedia) ventilation, process of supplying fresh air to an enclosed space and removing from it air contaminated by odors, gases, or smoke. Proper ventilation requires also that there be a movement or circulati...