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valence, in chemistry

(Encyclopedia)valence, combining capacity of an atom expressed as the number of single bonds the atom can form or the number of electrons an element gives up or accepts when reacting to form a compound. Atoms are c...

Salinas, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Salinas, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Santa Lucia Mts., S Calif., and flowing (partly underground) past King City, Paso Robles, and Salinas, NW to Monterey Bay. The irrigated valley is...

Harris, Thomas Lake

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Thomas Lake, 1823–1906, American Christian mystic. Born in England, he was brought to the United States as a child. In 1845 he was called to the pulpit of the Fourth Universalist Society, in...

Nicholas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas, Saint, patron of children and sailors, of Greece, Sicily, and Russia, and of many other places and persons. Little is known of him, but he is traditionally identified as a 4th-century bishop...

Guerrero, Vicente

(Encyclopedia)Guerrero, Vicente vēsānˈtā gār-rāˈrō [key], 1782–1831, Mexican revolutionist and president (Apr.–Dec., 1829). He fought under the command of Morelos y Pavón, spreading the revolution in t...

botanical garden

(Encyclopedia)botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

San Diego

(Encyclopedia)San Diego săn dēāˈgō [key], city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Vall...

Ethical Culture movement

(Encyclopedia)Ethical Culture movement, originating in the Society for Ethical Culture, founded in New York City in 1876, by Felix Adler. Its aim is “to assert the supreme importance of the ethical factor in all ...

hematite

(Encyclopedia)hematite hĕmˈətīt [key], mineral, an oxide of iron, Fe2O3, containing about 70% metal, occurring in nature in red to reddish-brown earthy masses and in steel-gray to black crystalline forms. Hemat...

Hermosa Beach

(Encyclopedia)Hermosa Beach hûrmōˈsə [key], city (2020 pop. 19,728 ), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa ...