Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Penn, William, founder of Pennsylvania

(Encyclopedia)Penn, William, 1644–1718, English Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania, b. London, England; son of Sir William Penn. Penn became involved in the affairs of the American colonies when in 1675 he was ap...

Pontiac's Rebellion

(Encyclopedia)Pontiac's Rebellion, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's War, 1763–66, Native American uprising against the British just after the close of the French and Indian Wars, so called after one of its lea...

ammonia

(Encyclopedia)ammonia, chemical compound, NH3, colorless gas that is about one half as dense as air at ordinary temperatures and pressures. It has a characteristic pungent, penetrating odor. Ammonia forms a minute ...

deuterium

(Encyclopedia)deuterium do͞otērˈēəm [key], isotope of hydrogen with mass no. 2. The deuterium nucleus, called a deuteron, contains one proton and one neutron. Deuterium is also called heavy hydrogen, and water...

Central Utah project

(Encyclopedia)Central Utah project, N central Utah; begun 1959 near Vernal, Utah, by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in conjunction with the Colorado River storage project. Water, collected from streams in the Uinta...

Owens

(Encyclopedia)Owens, river, c.120 mi (190 km) long, rising in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., SE of Yosemite National Park and flowing SE, to enter Owens Lake, near Mt. Whitney. Since 1913, at a point c.45 mi (70 km) ...

Poopó

(Encyclopedia)Poopó pōˌōpōˈ [key], salt lake, on the high plateau of W Bolivia. It is more than 11,000 ft (3,353 m) above sea level. Although it is Bolivia's second largest lake (965 sq mi/2,499 sq km) when w...

Central Valley project

(Encyclopedia)Central Valley project, central Calif., long-term general scheme for the utilization of the water of the Sacramento River basin in the north for the benefit of the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley ...

Sevan

(Encyclopedia)Sevan syĭvänˈ [key], lake, c.540 sq mi (1,400 sq km), NE Armenia, at an altitude of 6,280 ft (1,914 m); it is 324 ft (99 m) deep. The largest lake of the Caucasus, it is fed by some 30 streams, but...

wave, in the earth sciences

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Diagram of wave: Wave travels one wavelength during one period B. Diagram of wave: Phase relationships wave, in oceanography, an oscillating movement up and down, of a body of water caused ...