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subpoena

(Encyclopedia)subpoena səpēˈnə [key] [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat.,= to testify under penalty], the technical term denoting an ...

vacuum cleaner

(Encyclopedia)vacuum cleaner, mechanical device using a draft of air to remove dust, loose dirt, or other particulate matter from dry surfaces. It is especially useful on highly textured surfaces, such as carpets a...

podzol

(Encyclopedia)podzol pŏdˈsŏl [key] or podzolic soil, member of a group of soils that are gray in color, have an ashy appearance, and extend immediately south of the tundra regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Alt...

Phillips, William Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Phillips, William Daniel, 1948–, American physicist, b. Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976. He has been a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Tech...

intestine

(Encyclopedia)intestine, muscular hoselike portion of the gastrointestinal tract extending from the lower end of the stomach (pylorus) to the anal opening. In humans this fairly narrow (about 1 in./2.5 cm) tubelike...

Mach's principle

(Encyclopedia)Mach's principle mäks [key] [for E. Mach], assertion that the inertial effects of mass are not innate in a body, but arise from its relation to the totality of all other masses, i.e., to the universe...

Berkeley, George

(Encyclopedia)Berkeley, George bärˈklē, bûr– [key], 1685–1753, Anglo-Irish philosopher and clergyman, b. Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he became a scholar and later a fellow th...

solid

(Encyclopedia)solid, one of the three commonly recognized states in which matter occurs, i.e., that state, as distinguished from liquid and gas, in which a substance has both a definite shape and a definite volume....

antiparticle

(Encyclopedia)antiparticle, elementary particle corresponding to an ordinary particle such as the proton, neutron, or electron, but having the opposite electrical charge and magnetic moment. Every elementary partic...

soil

(Encyclopedia)soil, surface layer of the earth, composed of fine rock material disintegrated by geological processes; and humus, the organic remains of decomposed vegetation. In agriculture, soil is the medium that...