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metal

(Encyclopedia)metal, chemical element displaying certain properties by which it is normally distinguished from a nonmetal, notably its metallic luster, the capacity to lose electrons and form a positive ion, and th...

Kosterlitz, John Michael

(Encyclopedia)Kosterlitz, John Michael, 1943–, British physicist, b. Scotland, Ph.D. Oxford, 1969. He was on the faculty at the Univ. of Birmingham, England, from 1974 to 1982, when he became a professor at Brown...

Abscam

(Encyclopedia)Abscam, U.S. scandal resulting from an investigation begun in 1978 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI created a front (Abdul Enterprises, Ltd., hence, Abscam) for its agents, who, posing ...

alternating current

(Encyclopedia)alternating current, abbr. AC, a flow of electric charge that undergoes periodic reverses in direction. In North America ordinary household current alternates at a frequency of 60 times per second. Se...

Chaudière

(Encyclopedia)Chaudière shōdyĕrˈ [key], river, 115 mi (185 km) long, rising in Lac Mégantic, SE Que., Canada, near the Maine-Que. boundary and flowing generally N to the St. Lawrence River opposite the city of...

Coosa

(Encyclopedia)Coosa ko͞oˈsə [key], river, 286 mi (460 km) long, rising in NW Ga. and flowing SW through E Ala., joining the Tallapoosa near Montgomery, Ala., to form the Alabama River. Locks and dams make the ri...

Ekibastuz

(Encyclopedia)Ekibastuz ĕkēbästo͝osˈ [key], city, N Kazakhstan. It is the industrial center of a bituminous ...

Ticino , river, Switzerland and Italy

(Encyclopedia)Ticino, Lat. Ticinus, river, 154 mi (248 km) long, rising in Ticino canton, S Switzerland, and flowing generally S through Lago Maggiore into N Italy, joining the Po River below Pavia. In Switzerland,...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

quantum chromodynamics

(Encyclopedia)quantum chromodynamics (QCD), quantum field theory that describes the properties of the strong interactions between quarks and between protons and neutrons in the framework of quantum theory. Quarks p...
 

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