Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

437 results found

infrared radiation

(Encyclopedia)infrared radiation, electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength in the range from c.75 × 10−6 cm to c.100,000 × 10−6 cm (0.000075–0.1 cm). Infrared rays thus occupy that part of the electrom...

thermal capacity

(Encyclopedia)thermal capacity: see heat capacity. ...

dew

(Encyclopedia)dew, thin film of water that has condensed on the surface of objects near the ground. Dew forms when radiational cooling of these objects during the nighttime hours also cools the shallow layer of ove...

heating

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Typical warm-air heating system heating, means of making a building comfortably warm relative to a colder outside temperature. Old, primitive methods of heating a building or a room within it ...

power, electric

(Encyclopedia)power, electric, energy dissipated in an electrical or electronic circuit or device per unit of time. The electrical energy supplied by a current to an appliance enables it to do work or provide some ...

combustion

(Encyclopedia)combustion, rapid chemical reaction of two or more substances with a characteristic liberation of heat and light; it is commonly called burning. The burning of a fuel (e.g., wood, coal, oil, or natura...

ceramics

(Encyclopedia)ceramics sərămˈĭks [key], materials made of nonmetallic minerals that have been permanently hardened by firing at a high temperature, or objects made of such materials. Most ceramics resist heat a...

plastic

(Encyclopedia)plastic, any organic material with the ability to flow into a desired shape when heat and pressure are applied to it and to retain the shape when they are withdrawn. The first important plastic, cel...

fish curing

(Encyclopedia)fish curing. Methods of curing fish by drying, salting, smoking, and pickling, or by combinations of these processes have been employed since ancient times. On sailing vessels fish were usually salted...

fusion

(Encyclopedia)fusion, in physics. 1 The change of a substance from the solid to the liquid state, also known as melting. The heat given up by a unit mass of a substance during fusion is called the latent heat of fu...