Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Suriname

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Suriname so͝orĭnämˈ, –nămˈ [key], officially Republic of Suriname, republic (2015 est. pop. 553,000), 63,037 sq mi (163,266 sq km), NE South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the ...

melamine

(Encyclopedia)melamine mĕlˈəmēnˌ [key], common name for 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine. Melamine is a trimer (see polymer) of cyanamide, H2NC≡N, and is synthesized from calcium carbide. It condenses with form...

momentum

(Encyclopedia)momentum mōmĕnˈtəm [key], in mechanics, the quantity of motion of a body, specifically the product of the mass of the body and its velocity. Momentum is a vector quantity; i.e., it has both a magn...

fair trade

(Encyclopedia)fair trade, a trading arrangement intended to provide more equitable international trade by creating better conditions for disadvantaged or marginalized producers of goods. Fair trade practices includ...

safety movement

(Encyclopedia)safety movement, widespread effort to prevent accidents that followed the increasing number of casualties in industry, traffic and transportation, and homes arising out of the Industrial Revolution an...

factor

(Encyclopedia)factor, in arithmetic, any number that divides a given number evenly, i.e., without any remainder. The factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12. Similarly in algebra, any one of the algebraic expressio...

Lauren, Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Lauren, Ralph lôrˈən, lərĕnˈ [key], 1939–, American fashion designer, b. New York City as Ralph Lipschitz. He began his career by creating neckties under the name Polo for Beau Brummel. In 196...

Marquand, John Phillips

(Encyclopedia)Marquand, John Phillips märˈkwänd [key], 1893–1960, American novelist, b. Wilmington, Del., grad. Harvard, 1915. Most of Marquand's gently satirical novels examine life among the rich and sociall...

battery

(Encyclopedia)battery, in criminal and tort law, the unpermitted touching of any part of the person of another, or of anything worn, carried by, or intimately associated at that moment (as a chair being sat on) wit...

Ellwood City

(Encyclopedia)Ellwood City, industrial borough (2020 pop. 7,166), Beaver and Lawrence counties, W central Pa., near the Ohio line; inc. 1892. It has many metal-produc...