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loom

(Encyclopedia)loom, frame or machine used for weaving; there is evidence that the loom has been in use since 4400 b.c. Modern looms are of two types, those with a shuttle (the part that carries the weft through the...

Katanga

(Encyclopedia)Katanga kätăngˈgə, kə– [key], former province, c.200,000 sq mi (518,000 sq km), SE Congo (Kinshasa); called Shaba from 1971 to 1997. Katanga bordered Angola on the southwest, Zambia on the sout...

Karelia

(Encyclopedia)Karelia kərēˈlēə [key], constituent republic (1990 pop. 800,000), 66,409 sq mi (172,300 sq km), NW European Russia, extending from the Finnish border in the west to the White Sea in the east and ...

nationalization

(Encyclopedia)nationalization, acquisition and operation by a country of business enterprises formerly owned and operated by private individuals or corporations. State or local authorities have traditionally taken ...

antimony

(Encyclopedia)antimony ănˈtĭmōˌnē [key] [Lat. antimoneum], semimetallic chemical element; symbol Sb [Lat. stibium,=a mark]; at. no. 51; at. wt. 121.760; m.p. 630.74℃; b.p. 1,750℃; sp. gr. (metallic form) ...

horseshoe crab

(Encyclopedia)horseshoe crab, large, primitive marine arthropod of the family Limulidae, related to the spider and scorpion and sometimes called a king crab (a name also used for the largest of the edible true crab...

Sichuan

(Encyclopedia)Sichuan or Szechwan sŭˈchwänˈ [key] [four rivers], province (2010 pop. 80,418,200), c.220,000 sq mi (569,800 sq km), SW China. The capital is Chengdu. A naturally isolated region surrounded by mou...

Sardinia

(Encyclopedia)Sardinia särdĭnˈēə [key], Ital. Sardegna, region (1991 pop. 1,648,248), 9,302 sq mi (24,092 sq km), W Italy, mostly on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, which is separated in the north from C...

sulfate

(Encyclopedia)sulfate, chemical compound containing the sulfate (SO4) radical. Sulfates are salts or esters of sulfuric acid, H2SO4, formed by replacing one or both of the hydrogens with a metal (e.g., sodium) or a...

superconductivity

(Encyclopedia)superconductivity, abnormally high electrical conductivity of certain substances. The phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who found that the resistance of mercury dropped sudd...