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chronometer
(Encyclopedia)chronometer krənŏmˈətər [key], instrument for keeping highly accurate time, used especially in navigation. Before the advent of radio time signals it was the only device that provided the time ac...lard
(Encyclopedia)lard, hog's fat melted and strained from the tissues, an important byproduct of the meatpacking industry. The highest grade, leaf lard, is from the fat around the kidneys; the next best is from the ba...sleet
(Encyclopedia)sleet, precipitation of small, partially melted grains of ice. As raindrops fall from clouds, they pass through layers of air at different temperatures. If they pass through a layer with a temperature...taconite
(Encyclopedia)taconite, low-grade iron ore, a flintlike rock usually containing less than 30% iron. Resistant to drilling and to the extraction of its contained metal, the rock was long considered worthless. Experi...chemical equilibrium
(Encyclopedia)chemical equilibrium, state of balance in which two opposing reversible chemical reactions proceed at constant equal rates with no net change in the system. For example, when hydrogen gas, H2, and iod...Venus, in astronomy
(Encyclopedia)Venus, in astronomy, 2d planet from the sun; it is often called the evening star or morning star and is brighter than any object in the sky except the sun and the moon. Because its orbit lies between ...tropics
(Encyclopedia)tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 231⁄2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 231⁄2°S. Every po...Frasch process
(Encyclopedia)Frasch process fräsh [key] [for Herman Frasch, the German-American chemist who devised it], process for the extraction of sulfur from subsurface deposits. Three pipes, one inside another, are sunk to...candle, unit of luminous intensity
(Encyclopedia)candle, in weights and measures, unit of luminous intensity; it is defined as 1⁄60 of the intensity of a blackbody, or ideal radiator, at the temperature at which platinum solidifies (2,046K). The...Richardson, Sir Owen Willans
(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Sir Owen Willans, 1879–1959, British physicist, Ph.D. University College, London, 1904. He was a professor at Princeton from 1906 to 1913 and at King's College London from 1914 until his...Browse by Subject
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