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raft

(Encyclopedia)raft, floating platform of wood, cork, or air-inflated rubber for conveying goods or people. Originally, several logs, bound together by vines, strips of animal skin, and later rope, formed a flat sur...

sodium sulfate

(Encyclopedia)sodium sulfate, chemical compound, Na2SO4. It is a white, orthorhombic crystalline compound at ordinary temperatures; above 100℃ it assumes a monoclinic structure, and above about 250℃ it assumes ...

Tantalus

(Encyclopedia)Tantalus tănˈtələs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Sipylos, son of Zeus and father of Pelops and Niobe. He was admitted to the society of the gods, but his abominable behavior aroused their ang...

baths

(Encyclopedia)baths, in architecture. Ritual bathing is traceable to ancient Egypt, to prehistoric cities of the Indus River valley, and to the early Aegean civilizations. Remains of bathing apartments dating from ...

swim bladder

(Encyclopedia)swim bladder, large, thin-walled sac in some fishes that may function in several ways, e.g., as a buoyant float, a sound producer and receptor, and a respiratory organ. The swim bladder, or air bladde...

whirlpool

(Encyclopedia)whirlpool, revolving current in an ocean, river, or lake. It may be caused by the configuration of the shore, irregularities in the bottom of the body of water, the meeting of opposing currents or tid...

Idaho, University of

(Encyclopedia)Idaho, University of, mainly at Moscow; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered and opened 1889. Among its facilities are the Water and Energy Resources Institute and the Forest, Wild...

whetstone

(Encyclopedia)whetstone, natural or manufactured stone used as an abrasive solid to sharpen tools. It is used dry, with water, or with oil. Such a stone of the finer grade used with oil is usually called an oilston...

corrosion

(Encyclopedia)corrosion, atmospheric oxidation of metals (see oxidation and reduction). By far the most important form of corrosion is the rusting of iron. Rusting is essentially a process of oxidation in which iro...

Dead Sea

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea, salt lake, c.390 sq mi (1,010 sq km), extending c.45 mi (70 km) in the Jordan trough of the Great Rift Valley between the Ghor on the north and Wadi Arabah on the south, on the border betwee...