Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

aerodynamics

(Encyclopedia)aerodynamics, study of gases in motion. As the principal application of aerodynamics is the design of aircraft, air is the gas with which the science is most concerned. Although aerodynamics is primar...

budget

(Encyclopedia)budget, inclusive list of proposed expenditures and expected receipts of any person, enterprise, or government for a specified period, usually one year. Budget estimates are based on the expenditures ...

colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)colleges and universities, institutions of higher education. Universities differ from colleges in that they are larger, have wider curricula, are involved in research activities, and grant graduate an...

stellar evolution

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The above Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram shows the track of stellar evolution for a typical star. After spending much of its life evolving toward or along the main sequence, the star becomes...

intelligence

(Encyclopedia)intelligence, in psychology, the general mental ability involved in calculating, reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, learning quickly, storing and retrieving information, using language...

industrial management

(Encyclopedia)industrial management, term applied to highly organized modern methods of carrying on industrial, especially manufacturing, operations. Modern technological devices, particularly in the areas of com...

seismology

(Encyclopedia)seismology sīzmŏlˈəjē, sīs– [key], scientific study of earthquakes and related phenomena, including the propagation of waves and shocks on or within the earth by natural or artificially genera...

rhinoceros

(Encyclopedia)rhinoceros, massive hoofed mammal of Africa, India, and SE Asia, characterized by a snout with one or two horns. The rhinoceros family, along with the horse and tapir families, forms the order of odd-...

Navajo, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Navajo or Navaho both: näˈvəhō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). A migration from the No...

tariff

(Encyclopedia)tariff, tax on imported and, more rarely, exported goods. It is also called a customs duty. Tariffs may be distinguished from other taxes in that their predominant purpose is not financial but economi...