Search

Search results

Displaying 181 - 190

hardening

(Encyclopedia) hardening, in metallurgy, treatment of metals to increase their resistance to penetration. A metal is harder when it has small grains, which result when the metal is cooled rapidly.…

meteor shower

(Encyclopedia) meteor shower, increase in the number of meteors observed in a particular part of the sky. The trails of the meteors of a meteor shower all appear to be traceable back to a single…

Mount Wilson Observatory

(Encyclopedia) Mount Wilson Observatory, astronomical observatory located in California on Mt. Wilson, near Pasadena. Mt. Wilson Observatory was founded in 1904 by George E. Hale. Its equipment…

urinalysis

(Encyclopedia) urinalysisurinalysisy&oobreve;rˌənălˈĭsĭs [key], clinical examination of urine for the purpose of medical diagnosis. Urine is initially examined for such characteristics as color,…

supply and demand

(Encyclopedia) supply and demand, in classical economics, factors that are said to determine price, by correlating the amount of a given commodity producers hope to sell at a certain price (supply),…

parity

(Encyclopedia) parity or space parity, in physics, quantity that refers to the relationship between an object or process and the image that it can produce in a mirror. For example, any right-handed…

social contract

(Encyclopedia) social contract, agreement or covenant by which men are said to have abandoned the “state of nature” to form the society in which they now live. The theory of such a contract, first…

creosote

(Encyclopedia) creosotecreosotekrēˈəsōt [key], volatile, heavy, oily liquid obtained by the distillation of coal tar or wood tar. Creosote derived from beechwood tar has been used medicinally as an…

Hayashi, Fumiko

(Encyclopedia) Hayashi, FumikoHayashi, Fumikof&oomacr;ˈmēˈkō häˈyäˈshē [key], 1903–51, Japanese novelist and short-story writer. The daughter of an itinerant peddlar, Hayashi was raised in abject…

Cheyenne Mountain

(Encyclopedia) Cheyenne Mountain, c.9,565 ft (2,915 m), in the Front Range of the Rocky Mts., El Paso co., central Colo., SW of Colorado Springs. Halfway up the mountain, in North Cheyenne Park, is…