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sake

(Encyclopedia)sake, alcoholic beverage made from rice by fermentation. Although sake is sometimes called rice wine, and can have a smooth body and be quite aromatic, it has a higher alcohol content and is produced ...

personal watercraft

(Encyclopedia)personal watercraft (PWC), a lightweight vessel usually less than 16 ft (5 m) long that uses an inboard water jet pump, powered by an internal-combustion engine, as its primary source of propulsion. T...

reclamation of land

(Encyclopedia)reclamation of land, practice of converting land deemed unproductive into arable land by such methods as irrigation, drainage, flood control, altering the texture and mineral and organic content of so...

aquaponics

(Encyclopedia)aquaponics, the growing of plants and the raising of fish by combining aquaculture with the techniques of hydroponics, usually on a small scale. Water containing fish waste matter is used as the nutri...

Minnehaha Falls

(Encyclopedia)Minnehaha Falls mĭnˌēhäˈhä [key] [laughing water], 53 ft (16.1 m) high, SE Minn., in Minnehaha Creek, which flows from Lake Minnetonka (23 sq mi/60 sq km) SE to the Mississippi River. The surrou...

McNary Dam

(Encyclopedia)McNary Dam, 7,265 ft (2,214 m) long and 183 ft (56 m) high, on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, near Umatilla, Oreg.; built 1947–56 by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Located at the he...

Archimedes' screw

(Encyclopedia)Archimedes' screw, a simple mechanical device believed to have been invented by Archimedes in the 3d cent. b.c. It consists of a cylinder inside of which a continuous screw, extending the length of th...

depth charge

(Encyclopedia)depth charge, explosive device used against submarines and other underwater targets, either rolled into the water from rails on the stern of a ship or propelled from depth charge throwers. The charge ...

Savery, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Savery, Thomas, c.1650–1715, English engineer. He became a military engineer, rising to the rank of captain by 1702. He spent his free time performing experiments in mechanics, inventing such device...

Amu Darya

(Encyclopedia)Amu Darya or Amudarya both: ämo͞oˈ däryäˈ, äˈmo͞o därˈyə [key], river, c.1,600 mi (2,580 km) long, formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Pandj rivers, which rise in the Pamir Mts. of ce...