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Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi

(Encyclopedia)Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi kärnōˈ [key], 1796–1832, French physicist, a founder of modern thermodynamics; son of Lazare N. M. Carnot. His famous work on the motive power of heat (Réflexions ...

joule

(Encyclopedia)joule jo͞ol, joul [key], abbr. J, unit of work or energy in the mks system of units, which is based on the metric system; it is the work done or energy expended by a force of 1 newton acting through ...

Schlesinger, James Rodney

(Encyclopedia)Schlesinger, James Rodney, 1929–2014, U.S. secretary of defense (1973–75) and secretary of energy (1977–79), b. New York City. After graduating from Harvard (A.B., 1950; A.M., 1952; Ph.D., 1956)...

beta particle

(Encyclopedia)beta particle, one of the three types of radiation resulting from natural radioactivity. Beta radiation (or beta rays) was identified and named by E. Rutherford, who found that it consists of high-spe...

adenosine triphosphate

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) adenosine triphosphate (ATP) ədĕnˈəsēn trīˌfŏsˈfāt [key], organic compound composed of adenine, the sugar ribose, and three phosphate groups. ATP serves ...

cold fusion

(Encyclopedia)cold fusion or low-temperature fusion, nuclear fusion of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, at or relatively near room temperature. Fusion, the reaction involved in the release of the destructive ener...

transducer

(Encyclopedia)transducer, device that accepts an input of energy in one form and produces an output of energy in some other form, with a known, fixed relationship between the input and output. One widely used class...

Raman effect

(Encyclopedia)Raman effect räˈmən [key], appearance of additional lines in the spectrum of monochromatic light that has been scattered by a transparent material medium. The effect was discovered by C. V. Raman i...

heterotroph

(Encyclopedia)heterotroph hĕtˈərətrōfˌ [key], living organism that obtains its energy from carbohydrates and other organic material. All animals and most bacteria and fungi are heterotrophic. In contrast, aut...

saprophyte

(Encyclopedia)saprophyte săpˈrəfītˌ [key], any plant that depends on dead plant or animal tissue for a source of nutrition and metabolic energy, e.g., most fungi (molds) and a few flowering plants, such as Ind...