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pencil

(Encyclopedia)pencil, pointed implement used in writing or drawing to apply graphite or a similar colored solid to any surface, especially paper. From prehistoric times lumps of colored earth or chalk were used as ...

Leuna

(Encyclopedia)Leuna loiˈnä [key], city (1994 pop. 8,130), Saxony-Anhalt, S central Germany. There, in 1916, the first synthetic nitrogen plant began to operate after the invention of the Haber process. The city w...

Lw

(Encyclopedia)Lw, former symbol of the element lawrencium, now Lr. ...

Mv

(Encyclopedia)Mv, former symbol of the element mendelevium, now Md. ...

León, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)León, city (1990 pop. 758,270), Guanajuato state, central Mexico. It is located in a fertile river valley c.5,600 ft (1,700 m) high, but with a mild, temperate climate. Frequent floods, which in 1888...

Beja

(Encyclopedia)Beja bāˈzhə [key], town, S Portugal, capital of Beja dist. and Baixo Alentejo. It is an im...

determinant

(Encyclopedia)determinant, a polynomial expression that is inherent in the entries of a square matrix. The size n of the square matrix, as determined from the number of entries in any row or column, is called the o...

Bergman, Torbern Olof

(Encyclopedia)Bergman, Torbern Olof to͝orˈbərn o͞oˈlôv bĕrˈyəmän [key], 1735–84, Swedish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist. A professor at the Univ. of Uppsala from 1758, he developed a theory of che...

Jl

(Encyclopedia)Jl, formerly the suggested symbol for the element joliotium, now called dubnium. ...

Ku

(Encyclopedia)Ku, formerly the suggested symbol for the element kurchatovium, now called rutherfordium. ...