Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

societies, learned and literary

(Encyclopedia)societies, learned and literary, associations of individuals with a common professional interest, intended to promote learning. Many societies publish the proceedings of their meetings as well as jour...

periodic law

(Encyclopedia)periodic law, statement of a periodic recurrence of chemical and physical properties of the elements when the elements are arranged in order of increasing atomic number. Such an arrangement in the for...

Rio Grande, river, United States and Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Rio Grande rēˈō grănd, rēˈō gränˈdē [key], river, c.1,885 mi (3,000 km) long, rising in SW Colo. in the San Juan Mts. and flowing south through the middle of N.Mex., past Albuquerque, then c...

formula weight

(Encyclopedia)formula weight, in chemistry, a quantity computed by multiplying the atomic weight (in atomic mass units) of each element in a formula by the number of atoms of that element present in the formula, an...

monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish

(Encyclopedia)Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish, that part of the Low Countries that, from 1482 until 1794, remained under the control of the imperial house of Hapsburg. The area corresponds roughly to modern Belgi...

pinworm

(Encyclopedia)pinworm, roundworm, Enterobius vermicularis, worldwide in distribution and the most common source of worm infestation of humans in the United States. Children are more commonly infested than adults. A...

Ch'in, dynasty of China (221–206 b.c.)

(Encyclopedia)Ch'in chĭn [key], dynasty of China, which ruled from 221 b.c. to 206 b.c. The word China is derived from Ch'in, the first dynasty to unify the country by conquering the warring feudal states of the l...

Browse by Subject