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cramp

(Encyclopedia)cramp, painful uncontrollable contraction of a muscle or group of muscles. The type that results from cold, strain, or disturbance of circulation (as experienced by swimmers) is eased by massage and t...

Kearns

(Encyclopedia)Kearns kûrnz [key], uninc. town (1990 pop. 28,874), Salt Lake co., N Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Alfalfa and barley are grown and cattle and sheep are raised. There is copper mining nearby. ...

Natron, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Natron, Lake nāˈtrən [key], c.35 mi (60 km) long and 15 mi (20 km) wide, in the Great Rift Valley, E Africa, on the Kenya-Tanzania border. It has soda, salt, and magnesite deposits. ...

Djerid, Chott

(Encyclopedia)Djerid, Chott shôt jĕrēdˈ [key], salt lake, c.1,900 sq mi (4,920 sq km), W central Tunisia, N Africa. It is now an extensive salt flat with water only in its lower areas. ...

eye

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Cross section of human eye eye, organ of vision and light perception. In humans the eye is of the camera type, with an iris diaphragm and variable focusing, or accommodation. Other types of ey...

Jordan, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, river, 60 mi (97 km) long, draining Utah Lake N into Great Salt Lake, N central Utah; it passes through Salt Lake City. Fed by numerous streams flowing off the Wasatch Range, the Jordan is use...

guanine

(Encyclopedia)guanine gwäˈnēn [key], organic base of the purine family. It was reported (1846) to be in the guano of birds; later (1879–84) it was established as one of the major constituents of nucleic acids....

thymine

(Encyclopedia)thymine thīˈmēn [key], organic base of the pyrimidine family. Thymine was the first pyrimidine to be purified from a natural source, having been isolated from calf thymus and beef spleen in 1893–...

nitric acid

(Encyclopedia)nitric acid, chemical compound, HNO3, colorless, highly corrosive, poisonous liquid that gives off choking red or yellow fumes in moist air. It is miscible with water in all proportions. It forms an a...

organic chemistry

(Encyclopedia)organic chemistry, branch of chemistry dealing with the compounds of carbon. While it is only the fourteenth most common element on earth, carbon forms by far the greatest number of different compound...