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degree-day

(Encyclopedia)degree-day, a unit of measure used to estimate the fuel and power requirements in heating and cooling a building; it is equal to a difference of 1 degree between the outdoor daily average temperature ...

chamber music

(Encyclopedia)chamber music, ensemble music for small groups of instruments, with only one player to each part. Its essence is individual treatment of parts and the exclusion of virtuosic elements. Originally playe...

Tsin

(Encyclopedia)Tsin or Chin both: jhĭn [key], dynasty of China that ruled from 265 to 420, after the period of the Three Kingdoms. It was divided into two phases: the Western Tsin (265–317) and the Eastern Tsin (...

Catalan art

(Encyclopedia)Catalan art kătˈəlăn, –lən [key]. In Catalonia and the territories of the counts of Barcelona, art flowered in the early Middle Ages and continued to flourish through the Renaissance. Some of t...

mass extinction

(Encyclopedia)mass extinction, the extinction of a large percentage of the earth's species, opening ecological niches for other species to fill. There have been at least ten such events. The five greatest were thos...

passion music

(Encyclopedia)passion music, choral music whose text depicts events immediately surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. The earliest passions, composed from the 9th to the 14th cent., were monophonic and employed the...

Han, Chinese dynasty

(Encyclopedia)Han hän [key], dynasty of China that ruled from 202 b.c. to a.d. 220. Liu Pang, the first Han emperor, had been a farmer, minor village official, and guerrilla fighter under the Ch'in dynasty. During...

Mercury, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Mercury, in astronomy, nearest planet to the sun, at a mean distance of 36 million mi (58 million km); its period of revolution is 88 days. Mercury passes through phases similar to those of the moon a...

cycle

(Encyclopedia)cycle, in astronomy, period of time required for the recurrence of some celestial event. The length of a cycle may be measured relative to the sun or to the fixed stars (see sidereal time). A frequent...

Chou

(Encyclopedia)Chou jō [key], dynasty of China, which ruled from c.1027 b.c. to 256 b.c. The pastoral Chou people migrated from the Wei valley NW of the Huang He c.1027 b.c. and overthrew the Shang dynasty. The Cho...