Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

traffic regulation

(Encyclopedia)traffic regulation, control of the movement of vehicles and pedestrians, chiefly on city streets. Formal regulation of motor vehicle traffic was instituted in New York City in 1903; a set of Rules for...

electromagnetic radiation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Electromagnetic spectrum electromagnetic radiation, energy radiated in the form of a wave as a result of the motion of electric charges. A moving charge gives rise to a magnetic field, and if ...

direct current

(Encyclopedia)direct current, abbr. DC, a movement of electric charge across an arbitrarily defined surface in one direction only. See electricity; generator. ...

Irvine, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Irvine ûrˈvĭn [key], town, North Ayrshire, SW Scotland, on the Irvine River estuary. Indus...

Atsugi

(Encyclopedia)Atsugi ätˌso͞oˈgē [key], city, Kanagawa prefecture, E central Honshu, Japan, on the Sagami River. It is an important communication, commercial, and agricultural cente...

Liffey

(Encyclopedia)Liffey lĭfˈē [key], river, c.50 mi (80 km) long, rising in the Wicklow Mts., E Republic of Ireland, and flowing W, NE, and then E through Dublin to Dublin Bay. There are three electric power statio...

Kettering, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Kettering, city (1990 pop. 60,569), Montgomery co., SW Ohio, a suburb of Dayton; settled c.1812, inc. 1952. Electric motors, transportation equipment, and machinery are manufactured, and there are num...

cathode

(Encyclopedia)cathode, electrode through which current leaves an electric device. In electrolysis, it is the negative electrode in the electrolytic cell. ...

Coleman, Ornette

(Encyclopedia)Coleman, Ornette, 1930–2015, African-American saxophonist and composer, b. Fort Worth, Tex. Largely self-taught, he began playing the alto saxophone in rhythm-and-blues bands. He later developed an ...

field, in physics

(Encyclopedia)field, in physics, region throughout which a force may be exerted; examples are the gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields that surround, respectively, masses, electric charges, and magnets. The...

Browse by Subject