Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chelating agents

(Encyclopedia)chelating agents kēˈlātĭng [key]. Certain organic compounds are capable of forming coordinate bonds (see chemical bond) with metals through two or more atoms of the organic compound; such organic ...

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been ...

Wethersfield

(Encyclopedia)Wethersfield wĕᵺˈərzfēld [key], town (1990 pop. 25,651), Hartford co., central Conn., on the Connecticut River, adjoining Hartford on the north; settled 1634 by colonists from Watertown, Mass.; ...

Japan Current

(Encyclopedia)Japan Current or Kuroshio ko͝orōshēˈō [key][Jap.,=black stream], warm ocean current of the Pacific Ocean, off E Asia. A northward flowing branch of the North Equatorial Current, it runs E of Taiw...

satellite, artificial

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Nimbus weather satellite B. Syncom communications satellite satellite, artificial, object constructed by humans and placed in orbit around the earth or other celestial body (see also space ...

epistemology

(Encyclopedia)epistemology ĭpĭsˌtəmŏlˈəjē [key] [Gr.,=knowledge or science], the branch of philosophy that is directed toward theories of the sources, nature, and limits of knowledge. Since the 17th cent. e...

planetarium

(Encyclopedia)planetarium, optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device. A modern planetarium consists of as m...

tensor

(Encyclopedia)tensor, in mathematics, quantity that depends linearly on several vector variables and that varies covariantly with respect to some variables and contravariantly with respect to others when the coordi...

cape buffalo

(Encyclopedia)cape buffalo, species of short-haired African ungulate, or hoofed mammal, Syncerus caffer. The cape, or African, buffalo may reach 7 ft (2.1 m) in length, weigh more than 1,500 lb (670 kg), and reach ...

Browse by Subject