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ear

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Ear ear, organ of hearing and equilibrium. The human ear consists of outer, middle, and inner parts. The outer ear is the visible portion; it includes the skin-covered flap of cartilage known ...

microphone

(Encyclopedia)microphone, device for converting sound into electrical energy, used in radio broadcasting, recording, and sound amplifying systems. Its basic component is a diaphragm that responds to the pressure or...

Tarnovsky, Andrei

(Encyclopedia)Tarnovsky, Andrei, 1932–86, Soviet film director, grad. State Institute of Cinematography (1960), where he made several notable short films. The son of poet Arseni Tarkovsky, he is perhaps the fines...

decibel

(Encyclopedia)decibel dĕsˈəbĕlˌ, –bəl [key], abbr. dB, unit used to measure the loudness of sound. It is one tenth of a bel (named for A. G. Bell), but the larger unit is rarely used. The decibel is a measu...

fluid mechanics

(Encyclopedia)fluid mechanics, branch of mechanics dealing with the properties and behavior of fluids, i.e., liquids and gases. Because of their ability to flow, liquids and gases have many properties in common not...

Ptolemaic system

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemaic system tŏlˌəmāˈĭk [key], historically the most influential of the geocentric cosmological theories, i.e., theories that placed the earth motionless at the center of the universe with a...

Georgia, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Georgia, Strait of, channel, c.150 mi (240 km) long, between the mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Canada, between Puget Sound and Queen Charlotte Sound. It forms part of the inland s...

centripetal force and centrifugal force

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Centripetal and centrifugal forces: When a ball is swung in a circle at the end of a string, centripetal and centrifugal forces act as shown above. centripetal force and centrifugal force, act...

Croatoan

(Encyclopedia)Croatoan, unexplained letters found (1590) carved on a tree on Roanoke Island off North Carolina by Gov. John White when he returned to the colony from England and discovered the colonists gone. White...

Juneau, Solomon Laurent

(Encyclopedia)Juneau, Solomon Laurent jo͞onōˈ, jo͞oˈnō [key], 1793–1856, French Canadian fur trader and founder of Milwaukee, Wis., b. near Montreal. In 1818, as an agent of the American Fur Company, he mov...