Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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carbon disulfide ... cardinal flower

carbon disulfide: a colourless, toxic, highly volatile and flammable liquid chemical compound, large amounts of which are used in the manufacture of viscose rayon, cellophane, and carbon tetrachloride; smaller quantities are employed in solvent extraction processes or converted into other chemical products, ...
carbon group element: any of the five chemical elements that make up Group IVa of the periodic table-namely, carbon (C), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), and lead (Pb). (See .)
carbon monoxide: (CO), a highly toxic, colourless, odourless, flammable gas produced industrially for use in the manufacture of numerous organic and inorganic chemical products; it is also present in the exhaust gases of internal-combustion engines and furnaces as a result of incomplete ...
carbon steel: metal manufactured from the elements iron and carbon, with the carbon imparting hardness and strength and determining the degree to which such physical properties exist. See steel.
carbon tetrachloride: a colourless, dense, highly toxic, volatile, nonflammable liquid possessing a characteristic odour and belonging to the family of organic halogen compounds, used principally in the manufacture of dichlorodifluoromethane (a refrigerant and propellant).
carbon-14 dating: method of age determination that depends upon the decay to nitrogen of radiocarbon (carbon-14). Carbon-14 is continually formed in nature by the interaction of neutrons with nitrogen-14 in the Earth's atmosphere; the neutrons required for this reaction are produced by ...
carbonaceous chondrite: any stony meteorite containing material associated with life (e.g., hydrocarbons, amino acids, and forms resembling microscopic fossils) and for which some researchers have postulated an extraterrestrial biological origin. Instead of containing the anhydrous silicates found in most chondrites, the carbonaceous ...
carbonado: one of the varieties of industrial diamond (q.v.).
Carbonaro: (Italian dialect: Charcoal Burner), in early 19th-century Italy, member of a secret society (the Carbonaria) advocating liberal and patriotic ideas. The group provided the main source of opposition to the conservative regimes imposed on Italy by the victorious allies after ...
carbonate: any member of two classes of chemical compounds derived from carbonic acid or carbon dioxide (q.v.). The inorganic carbonates are salts of carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), containing the carbonate ion, CO23^-, and ions of metals such as sodium or calcium. Inorganic ...
carbonate mineral: any member of a family of minerals that contain the carbonate ion, CO₃^2-, as the basic structural and compositional unit. The carbonates are among the most widely distributed minerals in the Earth's crust.
carbonate rock: any rock composed mainly of carbonate minerals. The principal members of the group are the sedimentary rocks dolomite and limestone (qq.v.).
carbonate-apatite: rare phosphate mineral belonging to the apatite series. See apatite.
Carbondale: city, Lackawanna county, northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Lackawanna River. Located in a mountain resort region, it is 16 miles (26 km) northeast of the city of Scranton.
Carbondale: city, Jackson county, southern Illinois, U.S. It is situated at the northern edge of the Illinois Ozarks, about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1852 by Daniel Brush, a mill owner from nearby Murphysboro, in ...
carbonic anhydrase: enzyme found in red blood cells, gastric mucosa, pancreatic cells, and renal tubules that catalyzes the interconversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carbonic acid (H₂CO₃). Carbonic anhydrase plays an important role in respiration by influencing CO₂ transport in the blood. ...
Carboniferous Period: fifth interval of the Paleozoic Era, succeeding the Devonian and preceding the Permian. In terms of absolute time, the Carboniferous began approximately 360 million years ago and ended 286 million years ago (see ). It is often divided into the ...
carbonium ion: any member of a class of organic molecules with positive charges localized at a carbon atom. Certain carbonium ions can be prepared in such a way that they are stable enough for study; more frequently they are only short-lived forms ...
carbonyl group: in organic chemistry, a divalent chemical unit consisting of a carbon (C) and an oxygen (O) atom connected by a double bond. The group is a constituent of carboxylic acids, esters, anhydrides, acyl halides, amides, and quinones, and it is ...
carborane: any member of a class of organometallic compounds having the general formula C₂B_nH_{n + 2}, in which C, B, and H represent, respectively, carbon, boron, and hydrogen atoms and n an integer; carboranes with n ranging from 3 to 10 ...
carboxylic acid: any of a class of organic compounds in which a carbon atom is bonded to an oxygen atom by a double bond and to a hydroxyl group by a single bond. A fourth bond links the carbon atom to a ...
carbuncle: in mineralogy, a deep red, cabochon-cut almandine, which is an iron aluminum garnet. See almandine.
carbuncle: in medicine, a type of inflammatory staphylococcal infection of the skin. A carbuncle typically consists of two or more interconnected boils called furuncles; these are painful red nodules that form yellowish heads which burst to release pus and dead tissue. ...
carburetor: device for supplying a spark-ignition engine with a mixture of fuel and air. Components of carburetors usually include a storage chamber for liquid fuel, a choke, an idling (or slow-running) jet, a main jet, a venturi-shaped air-flow restriction, and an ...
carburizing: form of surface hardening (q.v.) in which the carbon content of the surface of a steel object is increased.
Carcassonne: town, capital of Aude departement, Languedoc-Roussillon region, southwestern France, southeast of Toulouse, near the eastward bend of the Aude River, which divides the city into two towns, the Ville Basse and the Cite. The Cite has the finest remains of ...
carcharhinid: any member of the shark family Carcharhinidae, which includes about 13 genera and numerous species found worldwide. Carcharhinids are found primarily in warm and temperate ocean waters, though a few species inhabit fresh or brackish water. The Carcharhinidae is the ...
Carchemish: ancient city-state located in what is now southern Turkey, along the border with Syria. Carchemish lay on the west bank of the Euphrates River near the modern town of Jarabulus northern Syria, and 38 miles (61 km) southeast of Gaziantep, ...
carcinogen: any of a number of agents that can cause cancer, including chemicals, radiation, and viruses. Exposure to such agents, singly or in combination, can initiate cancer under conditions not wholly understood.
carcinoma: a cancerous growth of surface (epithelial) tissues of the skin, digestive tract, blood vessels, and various organs. Carcinoma cells tend to invade surrounding healthy tissues and give rise to secondary growths (metastases) distant from the original tumour. In addition to ...
card game: a game played for pleasure or gambling (or both) with one or more decks of playing cards (see playing card). Card games are probably coeval with cards themselves and may have been invented by the Chinese when they began shuffling ...
cardamom: spice consisting of whole or ground dried fruit, or seeds, of Elettaria cardamomum, a herbaceous perennial of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). The seeds have a warm, slightly pungent, and highly aromatic flavour somewhat reminiscent of camphor. They ...
Cardamom Hills: mountainous area in southeastern Kerala state, southern India, forming part of the Western Ghats range. Some of their eastern peaks are more than 4,500 feet (1,370 m) high. The Cardamom Hills region produces tea, coffee, teak, and bamboo as well ...
Cardano, Girolamo: Italian physician, mathematician, and astrologer who gave the first clinical description of typhus fever and whose book Ars magna (The Great Art; or, The Rules of Algebra) is one of the cornerstones in the ...
Cardarelli, Vincenzo: Italian poet, essayist, literary critic, and journalist whose traditional, lyrical verse was influenced by the poet Giacomo Leopardi.
Cardenal, Ernesto: revolutionary Nicaraguan poet and Roman Catholic priest who is considered to be the second most important Nicaraguan poet, after Ruben Dario.
Cardenas: city, northern Matanzas province, west-central Cuba. It is located on the shore of a large bay and is sheltered by the long Hicacos Peninsula. Cardenas is one of Cuba's chief sugar ports. Founded in 1828, the settlement grew steadily after ...
Cardenas, Lazaro: president of Mexico (1934-40), noted for his efforts to carry out the social and economic aims of the Mexican Revolution. He distributed land, made loans available to peasants, organized workers' and peasants' confederations, and expropriated and nationalized foreign-owned industries.
cardiac arrhythmia: variation from the normal rate or regularity of the heartbeat, usually resulting from irregularities within the cardiac conduction system. Arrhythmias occur in both normal and diseased hearts and have no medical significance in and of themselves, though they may endanger ...
cardiac catheterization: procedure by which a flexible tube (catheter) is inserted into an artery or vein and passed along the course of that vessel into the heart. It is used for injecting drugs directly into the heart, for measuring the blood flow ...
cardiac output: in human physiology, volume of blood expelled by either ventricle of the heart. It is customarily expressed as minute volume, or litres of blood per minute, calculated as the product of stroke volume (output of either ventricle per heartbeat) and ...
Cardiff: city and capital of Wales. Cardiff constitutes a separate county, which is part of the historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg). Cardiff is located on the Bristol Channel at the mouth of the River Taff, about 150 miles (240 km) west ...
Cardiff Giant: famous hoax perpetrated by George Hall (or Hull) of Binghamton, New York, U.S. A block of gypsum was quarried near Fort Dodge, Iowa, and shipped to Chicago, Illinois. There it was carved (1868) in the shape of a human figure ...
Cardigan: town, Ceredigion county (historic county of Cardiganshire), Wales. The town grew up adjacent to a 12th-century Norman castle overlooking the River Teifi. An arched bridge across the river is said to date from 1136. In 1176 the Welsh prince and ...
Cardigan Bay: scenic inlet of the Irish Sea indenting the west coast of Wales. It is about 65 miles (105 km) long from south-southwest to north-northeast. Two national parks, Snowdonia and Pembrokeshire Coast, incorporate substantial stretches of beach and cliff along the ...
Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of, Baron Brudenell Of Stonton: British general who led the charge of the Light Brigade of British cavalry against the Russians in the Battle of Balaklava, Oct. 25, 1854, during the Crimean War-an incident immortalized in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light ...
Cardin, Pierre: French designer of elegantly cut clothes for women and also a pioneer in the design of high fashion for men.
cardinal: a member of the Sacred College of Cardinals, whose duties include electing the pope, acting as his principal counselors, and aiding in the government of the Roman Catholic church throughout the world. Cardinals serve as chief officials of the Roman ...
cardinal: any of various medium-size, thick-billed species of songbirds of the New World, all with crested heads. The males all sport at least some bright red plumage. All are nonmigratory and give clear, whistled songs.
cardinal fish: any fish of the family Apogonidae (order Perciformes), a group including about 200 species of small, typically nocturnal fishes found in tropical and subtropical waters. The majority of cardinal fishes are marine and live among reefs in shallow water. Some, ...
cardinal flower: any of several closely related species of the genus Lobelia, perennial plants of the family Lobeliaceae that are native to North and Central America. All bear spikes of scarlet, lipped flowers on leafy stems up to 1.5 m (5 feet) ...