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work

(Encyclopedia)work, in physics and mechanics, transfer of energy by a force acting to displace a body. Work is equal to the product of the force and the distance through which it produces movement. Although both fo...

bow and arrow

(Encyclopedia)bow and arrow, weapon consisting of two parts; the bow is made of a strip of flexible material, such as wood, with a cord linking the two ends of the strip to form a tension from which is propelled th...

Iowa State University of Science and Technology

(Encyclopedia)Iowa State University of Science and Technology, at Ames, commonly known as Iowa State University; land-grant with state and federal support; coeducational; chartered 1858, opened 1868 as an agricultu...

earth, in geology and astronomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Cross section of the earth, showing its shells B. Detailed cross section of the crust and upper mantle: The lithosphere consists of the hard rock in the crust and upper mantle, lying above t...

Maxwell, James Clerk

(Encyclopedia)Maxwell, James Clerk klärk [key], 1831–79, great Scottish physicist. After a brilliant career at Edinburgh and Cambridge, where he won early recognition with mathematical papers, he was a professor...

pole, in electricity and magnetism

(Encyclopedia)pole, in electricity and magnetism, point where electric or magnetic force appears to be concentrated. A single electric charge located at a point is sometimes referred to as an electric monopole. An ...

Tait, Peter Guthrie

(Encyclopedia)Tait, Peter Guthrie, 1831–1901, Scottish physicist and mathematician. He was professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh from 1860 and conducted important investigations in thermodynamics and the k...

low-temperature physics

(Encyclopedia)low-temperature physics, science concerned with the production and maintenance of temperatures much below normal, down to almost absolute zero, and with various phenomena that occur only at such tempe...

ideal gas

(Encyclopedia)ideal gas: see gas laws; kinetic-molecular theory of gases. ...

van der Waals, Johannes Diderik

(Encyclopedia)van der Waals, Johannes Diderik yōhäˈnəs dēˈdərĭk vän dər väls [key], 1837–1923, Dutch physicist. It had been known for some time that the behavior of real gases differs from that of an i...