Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

309 results found

Sino-Japanese War, Second

(Encyclopedia)Sino-Japanese War, Second, 1937–45, conflict between Japanese and Chinese forces for control of the Chinese mainland. The war sapped the Nationalist government's strength while allowing the Communis...

balance

(Encyclopedia)balance, instrument used in laboratories and pharmacies to measure the mass or weight of a body. A balance functions by measuring the force of gravity that the earth exerts on an object, i.e., its wei...

Italian architecture

(Encyclopedia)Italian architecture, the several styles employed in Italy after the Roman period. Nineteenth-century Italian architecture, such as Giuseppe Sacconi's Victor Emmanuel monument, shows a decline in qu...

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich mēkhəyēlˈ sĭrgāˈyəvich gərbəchofˈ ...

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...

pituitary gland

(Encyclopedia)pituitary gland, small oval endocrine gland that lies at the base of the brain. It is sometimes called the master gland of the body because all the other endocrine glands depend on its secretions for ...

Periodic Table of the Elements (table)

(Encyclopedia)Periodic Table of the Elements (showing atomic number and atomic symbol; click on atomic symbol for more detailed information) Lanthanide Series(Rare Earth Elements) Actinide Series(Radioactive Rar...

diabetes

(Encyclopedia)diabetes or diabetes mellitus məlīˈtəs [key], chronic disorder of glucose (sugar) metabolism caused by inadequate production or use of insulin, a hormone produced in specialized cells (beta cells ...

diseases of plants

(Encyclopedia)diseases of plants. Most plant diseases are caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Although the term disease is usually used only for the destruction of live plants, the action of dry rot and the rot...

interest

(Encyclopedia)interest, charge for the use of credit or money, usually figured as a percentage of the principal and computed annually. Simple interest is computed annually on the principal. Compound interest, paid ...