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sound recording

(Encyclopedia)sound recording, process of converting the acoustic energy of sound into some form in which it can be permanently stored and reproduced at any time. In 1855 the inventor Leon Scott constructed a devic...

Sumatra

(Encyclopedia)Sumatra so͝omäˈtrə [key], island (1990 pop. 36,471,731), c.183,000 sq mi (473,970 sq km), Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean along the equator, S and W of the Malay Peninsula (from which it is separat...

dolphin, aquatic mammal

(Encyclopedia)dolphin, aquatic mammal, any of the small toothed whales of the family Delphinidae, numbering more than 50 species. These include the true, or beaked, dolphins, the killer whale, the pilot whale, and ...

larva, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)larva, independent, immature animal that undergoes a profound change, or metamorphosis, to assume the typical adult form. Larvae occur in almost all of the animal phyla; because most are tiny or micro...

Germanic laws

(Encyclopedia)Germanic laws, customary law codes of the Germans before their contact with the Romans. They are unknown to us except through casual references of ancient authors and inferences from the codes compile...

Byzantine art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Byzantine art and architecture, works of art and structures works produced in the city of Byzantium after Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire (a.d. 330) and the work done under Byzanti...

Canadian literature, French

(Encyclopedia)Canadian literature, French, the body of literature of the French-speaking population of Canada. Except for the narratives of French explorers (such as Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Esprit Radisson) ...

Germans

(Encyclopedia)Germans, great ethnic complex of ancient Europe, a basic stock in the composition of the modern peoples of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, N Italy, the Netherlands, Be...

plastic

(Encyclopedia)plastic, any organic material with the ability to flow into a desired shape when heat and pressure are applied to it and to retain the shape when they are withdrawn. The first important plastic, cel...

wave, in the earth sciences

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Diagram of wave: Wave travels one wavelength during one period B. Diagram of wave: Phase relationships wave, in oceanography, an oscillating movement up and down, of a body of water caused ...