Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

isotope

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Isotopes of hydrogen isotope īˈsətōp [key], in chemistry and physics, one of two or more atoms having the same atomic number but differing in atomic weight and mass number. The concept of ...

periodic table

(Encyclopedia)CE5 periodic table, chart of the elements arranged according to the periodic law discovered by Dmitri I. Mendeleev and revised by Henry G. J. Moseley. In the periodic table the elements are arrange...

East Chicago

(Encyclopedia)East Chicago, city (2020 pop. 26,370), Lake co., extreme NW Ind., on Lake Michigan, in the industrialized Calumet region, ad...

antihistamine

(Encyclopedia)antihistamine ănˌtĭhĭsˈtəmēn [key], any one of a group of compounds having various chemical structures and characterized by the ability to antagonize the effects of histamine. Their principal u...

Anniston

(Encyclopedia)Anniston ănˈĭstən [key], city, seat of Calhoun co., NE Ala., in a mining region of the Appalachian foothills; inc. 1873. Its manufactures include soil pipes, textiles,...

Guiyang

(Encyclopedia)Guiyang or Kweiyang both: gwā-yäng [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,131,200), capital of Guizhou prov., SW China. On the main road from Kunming to Chongqing, it is also a rail (since 1959) and industri...

mechanism

(Encyclopedia)mechanism, philosophical theory about the nature of organic systems, holding that organisms are machines in the sense that they are material systems. Mechanism seeks to explain biological processes, i...

lead acetate

(Encyclopedia)lead acetate, chemical compound, a white crystalline substance with a sweetish taste. Like other lead compounds, it is very poisonous. Lead acetate is soluble in water and glycerin. With water it form...

Lipscomb, William Nunn, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Lipscomb, William Nunn, Jr. lĭpˈskəm [key], 1919–2011, American physical chemist, b. Cleveland, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1946. A professor of chemistry at the Univ. of Minnesota ...

Kanawha

(Encyclopedia)Kanawha kənôˈwə [key], principal river of W.Va., 97 mi (156 km) long, formed by the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers, S central W.Va., and flowing NW to the Ohio River at Point Pleasant; Ch...