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White Sands

(Encyclopedia)White Sands, uninhabited desert area, S central N.Mex. It is a center for U.S. military-weapons research and testing. On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was exploded at Holloman Air Force Base (f...

bias, in electricity

(Encyclopedia)bias, a voltage, current, or other input applied to a device or system as a reference or to set its conditions of operation. A bias is usually steady but may vary with time, usually within a fixed and...

Helicon

(Encyclopedia)Helicon hĕlˈĭkŏn [key], Gr. Elikón, mountain group, c.20 mi (30 km) long, central Greece, in Boeotia; it rises to 5,736 ft (1,748 m). Helicon formed part of the border between ancient Boeotia and...

Girnar

(Encyclopedia)Girnar gĭrnärˈ [key], sacred mountain, 3,666 ft (1,117 m) high, Gujarat state, W India, on the Kathiawar Peninsula; a pilgrimage place for adherents of Jainism. It has five peaks, the sides of whic...

state flowers

(Encyclopedia)state flowers. Each state of the United States has designated, usually by legislative action, one flower as its floral emblem; the rose has been designated by Congress as the national flower of the Un...

Mugodzhar Hills

(Encyclopedia)Mugodzhar Hills mo͞ogəjärˈ [key], range, c.275 mi (440 km) long, E Kazakhstan. The southern spur of the Urals, it forms the divide between the Caspian and the Aral basins. Its highest point is c.2...

Lewis, rivers, United States and Canada

(Encyclopedia)Lewis. 1 Early name of the Snake River. 2 River, c.95 mi (155 km) long, rising in the Cascade Range, SW Wash., and flowing SW to the Columbia River NW of Vancouver. Three privately owned dams furnish ...

Mbeya

(Encyclopedia)Mbeya, city (2005 pop. 280,000), SW Tanzania. Located on the Tazara Railway, Mbeya was founded as a gold mining town in the 1920s. It is a market town for the fertile surrounding highlands, which prod...

Kuskokwim

(Encyclopedia)Kuskokwim kŭsˈkōkwĭm [key], river, c.650 mi (1,046 km) long, rising on the northwest slopes of the Alaska Range, central Alaska, and flowing SW to the Bering Sea. The shores of the river are mostl...

Zhiguli Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Zhiguli Mountains zhēgo͞olyēˈ [key], wooded range, E European Russia, in the Samara bend of the Volga River at Samara. They rise to c.2,220 ft (680 m) and are rich in oil, which is piped to Samara...