Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lough

(Encyclopedia)Lough lŏkh, lŏk [key]. For names of Irish lakes and inlets beginning with “Lough,” see second part of element; e.g., for Lough Corrib, see Corrib, Lough. See lake. ...

law of simple multiple proportions

(Encyclopedia)law of simple multiple proportions, in chemistry, the statement that when two or more elements form more than one compound, the ratio of the weights of one element that combine with a given weight of ...

Eigen, Manfred

(Encyclopedia)Eigen, Manfred, 1927–2019, German biophysicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1951. Eigen was on the faculty at the Univ. of Göttingen from 1951 to 1953. He joined the Max Planck Institute for Physica...

pesticide

(Encyclopedia)pesticide, biological, physical, or chemical agent used to kill plants or animals that are harmful to people; in practice, the term pesticide is often applied only to chemical agents. Various pesticid...

Euler-Chelpin, Hans Karl August Simon von

(Encyclopedia)Euler-Chelpin, Hans Karl August Simon von, 1873–1964, Swedish biochemist, b. Germany, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1895. He spent his entire career at Stockholm Univ., first as professor and later as dire...

alkyne

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Alkynes alkyne ălˈkīn [key], any of a group of aliphatic hydrocarbons whose molecules contain one or more carbon-carbon triple bonds (see chemical bond). Alkynes with one triple bond have t...

gold

(Encyclopedia)gold, metallic chemical element; symbol Au [Lat. aurum=shining dawn]; at. no. 79; at. wt. 196.96657; m.p. 1,064.43℃; b.p. 2,808℃; sp. gr. 19.32 at 20℃; valence +1 or +3. Gold is very ductile and...

Fourcroy, Antoine François, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Fourcroy, Antoine François, comte de äNtwänˈ fräNswäˈ kôNt də fo͞orkrwäˈ [key], 1755–1809, French chemist. He was a pioneer in animal and plant chemistry and collaborated with Lavoisier ...

potassium hydroxide

(Encyclopedia)potassium hydroxide, chemical compound with formula KOH. Pure potassium hydroxide forms white, deliquescent crystals. For commercial and laboratory use it is usually in the form of white pellets. A st...

Norrish, Ronald George Wreyford

(Encyclopedia)Norrish, Ronald George Wreyford, 1897–1978, British chemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1925. He joined the faculty at Cambridge in 1925 and was a professor there until he retired in 1965. Norrish was awarded...

Browse by Subject