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  • isometric drawing
    method of graphic representation of three-dimensional objects, used by engineers, technical illustrators, and, occasionally, architects. The technique is intended to combine the illusion of depth, as in a perspective rendering, with the undistorted presentation of the object’s principal dimensions, that is, those parallel to a chosen set of three mutually perpendicular coordinate axes....
  • isometric projection
    method of graphic representation of three-dimensional objects, used by engineers, technical illustrators, and, occasionally, architects. The technique is intended to combine the illusion of depth, as in a perspective rendering, with the undistorted presentation of the object’s principal dimensions, that is, those parallel to a chosen set of three mutually perpendicular coordinate axes....
  • isometric system (crystallography)
    one of the crystal systems to which a given crystalline solid can be assigned. Crystals in this system are referred to three mutually perpendicular axes of equal lengths. If the atoms or atom groups in the solid are represented by points and the points are connected, the resulting lattice will consist of an orderly stacking of blocks, or unit cells. The isometric unit cell is di...
  • Isometroides vescus (arachnid)
    ...arachnids, including other scorpions. Less-common but regular prey includes pill bugs, snails, and small vertebrates such as lizards, snakes, and rodents. The only known specialist scorpion is the Australian spiral burrow, or spider-hunting, scorpion (Isometroides vescus), which feeds solely on burrowing spiders....
  • isometry
    ...be bent, without stretching, so that it forms a strake around the cylinder? In particular, this means that distances measured along the surface (intrinsic) are unchanged. Two surfaces are said to be isometric if one can be bent (or transformed) into the other without changing intrinsic distances. (For example, because a sheet of paper can be rolled into a tube without stretching, the sheet and....
  • isomorphic graph
    ...υうぷしろん vertices are distinguished by such names as x1, x2, · · · xυうぷしろん. Two graphs G and H are said to be isomorphic (written G ≃ H) if there exists a one–one correspondence between their vertex sets that preserves adjacency. For example, G1 and......
  • isomorphism (mathematics)
    An arrow f ∶ A → B is called an isomorphism if there is an arrow g ∶ B → A inverse to f—that is, such that g ○ f = 1A and f ○ g = 1B. This is written A ≅ B, and A and B are called isomorphic, meaning tha...
  • isomorphism (chemistry)
    Many remaining problems in the specification of minerals were resolved by the law of isomorphism, the recognition that chemically similar substances possess similar crystal forms, discovered in 1818 by the German chemist Eilhardt Mitscherlich. Berzelius had provided both the patronage and the foundational concepts for Mitscherlich’s own career. In contemporary mineralogy disputes, Berzelius...
  • isomyarianism (mollusk anatomy)
    ...are thin and nonornamented. They are often brightly coloured, as in the Tellinidae. The shell is laterally compressed and thus more bladelike, but the adductor muscles are still of similar size (the isomyarian form). Such structural features adapt the animal for rapid movement through the sand; long siphons project to the surface above. Deep burrowing has been achieved by a different mechanism....
  • Isondega River (river, United States)
    river formed by the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers at Hartwell Dam, Georgia, U.S. It constitutes the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina as it flows southeastward past Augusta and Savannah, Ga., into the Atlantic Ocean after a course of 314 miles (505 km). Its chief tributaries are the Broad and Little rivers (north of Augusta) and Brier Creek (south of Augusta). The Savannah...
  • isoniazid (drug)
    drug used in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis. Isoniazid commonly is used in combination with other drugs, such as rifampin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, or streptomycin; these drugs are used with isoniazid in order to prevent, or at least delay, the development of isoniazid-resistant strains of tuberculin bacilli. Treatment usually is continued for m...
  • isonicotinic acid hydrazide (drug)
    drug used in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis. Isoniazid commonly is used in combination with other drugs, such as rifampin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, or streptomycin; these drugs are used with isoniazid in order to prevent, or at least delay, the development of isoniazid-resistant strains of tuberculin bacilli. Treatment usually is continued for m...
  • isonipecaine (drug)
    synthetic drug used in the treatment of moderate to severe pain. It is an opioid analgesic, and thus its effects on the body resemble those of opium or morphine, one of opium’s purified constituents. A common trade name for meperidine is Demerol....
  • isonitrile (chemical compound)
    any of a class of organic compounds having the molecular structure R−N+ ≡ C, in which R is a combining group derived by removal of a hydrogen atom from an organic compound. The isocyanides are isomers of the nitriles; they were discovered in 1867 but have never achieved any large-scale utility. They are usually prepared from primary amines by treatment w...
  • Isonokami Shrine (shrine, Tenri, Japan)
    ...in the warfare among the three Korean kingdoms on the peninsula. Although the rulers continued to worship Mount Miwa, the religious focus of the court seems to have been concentrated upon the Isonokami Shrine at Tenri, south of Nara. The rulers there seem to have been somewhat more military in nature than their Miwa predecessors, and archaeological findings suggest that the most treasured......
  • isonomia (politics)
    ...the basis of representation in public office, and the Solonian Council of Four Hundred was increased to 500 (50 from each tribe, with members selected from demes according to their numbers). Isonomia, the principle of equality of rights for all, was one of the proudest boasts of the reformers, and there is no doubt that Cleisthenes’ work led to a much wider and more active......
  • Isonzo (river, Europe)
    (1915–17), 12 battles along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front in World War I....
  • Isonzo, Battles of the (World War I)
    (1915–17), 12 battles along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front in World War I....
  • isooctane (chemical compound)
    ...catalyst to convert unbranched alkanes to their branched-chain isomers. In one such application, butane is isomerized to 2-methylpropane for use as a starting material in the preparation of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane), which is a component of high-octane gasoline....
  • Isoodon (marsupial)
    ...bandicoot (Perameles, or Thylacis, nasuta), a vaguely ratlike brown animal whose rump may be black-barred, is the common form in eastern Australia. The three species of short-nosed bandicoots, Isoodon (incorrectly Thylacis), are found in New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. Rabbit-eared bandicoots, or bilbies, are species of Thylacomys......
  • isoparaffin
    Paraffins can be arranged either in straight chains (normal paraffins, such as butane; see figure) or branched chains (isoparaffins). Most of the paraffin compounds in naturally occurring crude oils are normal paraffins, while isoparaffins are frequently produced in refinery processes. The normal paraffins are uniquely poor as motor fuels, while isoparaffins have good engine-combustion......
  • isoparametric tone (music)
    ...may be sung with either ofthe adjacent registers. These tones of the same fundamental frequency, sound level, and basic sound category in different vocal registers have recently been defined as isoparametric tones. In the untrained male voice, the transition between the midvoice and the high falsetto sounds abrupt; this so-called register break is similar to the noisy gearshift in a......
  • isopentane (chemical compound)
    Polystyrene pellets can be impregnated with isopentane at room temperature and modest pressure. When the pellets are heated, they can be made to fuse together at the same time that the isopentane evaporates, foaming the polystyrene and cooling the assembly at the same time. Usually the pellets are prefoamed to some extent before being put into a mold to form a cup or some form of rigid......
  • isopentenyl pyrophosphate (chemical compound)
    ...a compound derived from acetic acid and coenzyme A (CoA), a complex substance that participates in many reactions that are controlled by enzymes. Previously unknown compounds, mevalonic acid and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPPP), occur as important intermediates in the process....
  • isoperimetric problem (mathematics)
    in mathematics, the determination of the shape of the closed plane curve having a given length and enclosing the maximum area. (In the absence of any restriction on shape, the curve is a circle.) The calculus of variations evolved from attempts to solve this problem and the brachistochrone (“least-time”) problem....
  • Isopet (collection of fables)
    in French literature, a medieval collection of fables, often versions of Aesop’s Fables....
  • isophase (light)
    ...and momentarily extinguished, with short eclipses interrupting longer periods of light. Analogous to the flashing mode are occulting and group-occulting characters. A special class of light is the isophase, which alternates eclipses and flashes of exactly equal duration....
  • isophthalic acid (chemical compound)
    ...by the attack of wasps). Tannins are used in making leather, and gallic acid is employed in the production of inks. Three of the most important aromatic dicarboxylic acids are called phthalic, isophthalic, and terephthalic acid, for the ortho, meta, and para isomers, respectively. Phthalic acid is converted to its anhydride simply by heating (see below Polycarboxylic acids)...
  • isopleth (meteorology)
    ...over water in the Southern Hemisphere, this timberline exists only in the Northern Hemisphere. It crosses northern Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, and far-northern Scandinavia. Several climatic isopleths (imaginary lines connecting points of equal values for various climatic variables) have been proposed as quantitative approximations of this timberline. The Köppen–Supan line was......
  • isopod (crustacean)
    any member of the order Isopoda (class Crustacea), a group of diverse, widely occurring forms including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species. Most are free-living, but a number of marine species are parasitic on other animals. They are usually inconspicuous. Most of the 10,000 species, which include the pill bug, the sow bug, and the gribble...
  • Isopoda (crustacean)
    any member of the order Isopoda (class Crustacea), a group of diverse, widely occurring forms including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species. Most are free-living, but a number of marine species are parasitic on other animals. They are usually inconspicuous. Most of the 10,000 species, which include the pill bug, the sow bug, and the gribble...
  • isopoly acid (chemical compound)
    ...weak acids that readily condense (polymerize) to form anions containing several molecules of the acid anhydride. If these condensed acids contain only one type of acid anhydride, they are called isopoly acids, and their salts are called isopoly salts. The acid anhydrides also can condense with other acids (e.g., phosphoric or silicic acids) to form heteropoly acids, which can form heteropoly......
  • isopoly anion
    The amphoteric metals of groups VB (vanadium, niobium, and tantalum) and VIB (chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten) in the +5 and +6 oxidation states, respectively, form weak acids that readily condense (polymerize) to form anions containing several molecules of the acid anhydride. If these condensed acids contain only one type of acid anhydride, they are called......
  • isopoly salt (chemical compound)
    ...to form anions containing several molecules of the acid anhydride. If these condensed acids contain only one type of acid anhydride, they are called isopoly acids, and their salts are called isopoly salts. The acid anhydrides also can condense with other acids (e.g., phosphoric or silicic acids) to form heteropoly acids, which can form heteropoly salts. The condensation reactions, which......
  • isoprene (chemical compound)
    a colourless, volatile liquid hydrocarbon obtained in processing petroleum or coal tar and used as a chemical raw material. The formula is C5H8....
  • isoprene rule (chemical compound)
    ...be connected in different ways to produce the variety of carbon atom arrangements found in monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes (molecules containing 15 carbon atoms). Wallach’s proposal, called the isoprene rule, has helped chemists understand the structures of the more complex members of the class. The fundamental five-carbon unit typically has four carbon atoms in a linear chain with the.....
  • isoprenoid (chemical compound)
    any of a class of organic compounds composed of two or more units of hydrocarbons, with each unit consisting of five carbon atoms arranged in a specific pattern. Isoprenoids play widely varying roles in the physiological processes of plants and animals. They also have a number of commercial uses....
  • isoprenoid pathway (biochemistry)
    Another metabolic cycle, the isoprenoid pathway, produces essential oils, carotenoid pigments, certain plant hormones, and rubber. These metabolites (often called secondary metabolites) are unique to plants and serve such functions as attracting pollinating insects, photosynthesis, and growth and development. Plant seedlings use the glyoxylic acid cycle to convert fats (principally from seeds)......
  • isopropyl alcohol (chemical compound)
    one of the most common members of the alcohol family of organic compounds. Isopropyl alcohol was the first commercial synthetic alcohol. It is easily synthesized from the reaction of propylene with sulfuric acid, followed by hydrolysis....
  • isopropylbenzene (chemical compound)
    Benzene is converted to isopropylbenzene (cumene) by treatment with propylene and an acidic catalyst. Oxidation yields a hydroperoxide (cumene hydroperoxide), which undergoes acid-catalyzed rearrangement to phenol and acetone. Although this process seems more complicated than the Dow process, it is advantageous because it produces two valuable industrial products: phenol and acetone....
  • Isoptera (insect)
    any of a group of cellulose-eating insects, the social system of which shows remarkable parallels with those of ants and bees, although it has evolved independently. Even though termites are not closely related to ants, they are sometimes referred to as white ants. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the closest relative to the termite is the cockroach; for this reason termites are sometimes plac...
  • isopulegol (chemical compound)
    Citronellal is converted by treatment with acid into the monocyclic monoterpene alcohol isopulegol, from which a mixture of stereoisomeric menthols is produced by catalytic hydrogenation. The process is used commercially to supplement the natural sources of menthol (oil of peppermint), widely used as a flavouring and in medicinal preparations. Citral, upon reduction with sodium amalgam, yields......
  • isorhythm (music)
    in music, the organizing principle of much of 14th-century French polyphony, characterized by the extension of the rhythmic texture (talea) of an initial section to the entire composition, despite the variation of corresponding melodic features (color); the term was coined around 1900 by the German musicologist Friedrich Ludwig....
  • isospin (physics)
    property that is characteristic of families of related subatomic particles differing principally in the values of their electric charge. The families of similar particles are known as isospin multiplets: two-particle families are called doublets, three-particle families are called triplets, and so on....
  • Isospora (protozoan)
    genus of parasitic protozoans of the sporozoan subclass Coccidia. Isospora causes the disease known as coccidiosis in humans, dogs, and cats. The species that attack humans, I. hominis and I. belli, inhabit the digestive tract and are endemic in many areas of southern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania. Symptoms of human infection include weig...
  • isostasy (geology)
    ideal theoretical balance of all large portions of Earth’s lithosphere as though they were floating on the denser underlying layer, the asthenosphere, a section of the upper mantle composed of weak, plastic rock that is about 110 km (70 miles) below the surface. Isostasy controls the regional elevations of continents and ocean floors ...
  • isostatic equilibrium (geology)
    ideal theoretical balance of all large portions of Earth’s lithosphere as though they were floating on the denser underlying layer, the asthenosphere, a section of the upper mantle composed of weak, plastic rock that is about 110 km (70 miles) below the surface. Isostasy controls the regional elevations of continents and ocean floors ...
  • isotactic polymer (chemistry)
    ...aluminum catalyst. In the case of a generalized ethylenic compound, CH2=CHR, stereoregular polymerization may yield three different arrangements of the polymer: an isotactic polymer, a syndiotactic polymer, and an atactic polymer. These have the following arrangements of their molecular chains:...
  • Isotelus (paleontology)
    genus of trilobites (extinct arthropods) restricted to Europe and North America during the Ordovician Period (505 to 438 million years ago). Isotelus was relatively large for a trilobite and was characterized by its distinctive flat shape. The head and the tail were well developed and large relative to the whole animal. The number of thoracic segments was small, and the eyes were large and...
  • isotherm (diagram)
    line drawn on a map or chart joining points with the same temperature. Isotherms are commonly used in meteorology to show the distribution of temperature at the Earth’s surface or on a chart indicating constant level or constant pressure. They are also used to show the time variation of temperature with height in the atmosphere or with depth in soil or water; the characte...
  • isothermal change (physics)
    Because heat engines may go through a complex sequence of steps, a simplified model is often used to illustrate the principles of thermodynamics. In particular, consider a gas that expands and contracts within a cylinder with a movable piston under a prescribed set of conditions. There are two particularly important sets of conditions. One condition, known as an isothermal expansion, involves......
  • isothermal compressibility (physics)
    ...conditions, however, all one needs to know is how the density changes when the pressure is changed by a small amount, and this is described by the compressibility of the fluid—either the isothermal compressibility, βべーたT, or the adiabatic compressibility, βべーたS, according to circumstance. When an element of fluid is compressed, the work done on...
  • isothermal flow (physics)
    ...Except under very extreme conditions, however, all one needs to know is how the density changes when the pressure is changed by a small amount, and this is described by the compressibility of the fluid—either the isothermal compressibility, βべーたT, or the adiabatic compressibility, βべーたS, according to circumstance. When an element of fluid is......
  • isothermal glacier
    ...its mass for the entire year; a subpolar (or polythermal) glacier contains ice below the freezing temperature, except for surface melting in the summer and a basal layer of temperate ice; and a temperate glacier is at the melting temperature throughout its mass, but surface freezing occurs in winter. A polar or subpolar glacier may be frozen to its bed (cold-based), or it may be at the......
  • isothermal remanent magnetization (physics)
    IRM (isothermal remanent magnetization) results from the application of a magnetic field at a constant (isothermal) temperature, often room temperature....
  • isothermy (physics)
    ...The latter form corresponds to the variables with which the stress-strain relations were written above. Sometimes ρろー0f is called the strain energy for states of isothermal (constant θしーた) elastic deformation; ρろー0e has the same interpretation for adiabatic (s = constant) elastic deformation, achieved when the time......
  • isothiocyanate (chemical compound)
    ...Carbon disulfide, S=C=S, is a common and important organic solvent and raw material containing a thiocarbonyl group; it is used in the manufacture of rayon. Isothiocyanates, R−N=C=S, have cumulated bonding similar to that in carbon disulfide. Allyl isothiocyanate,......
  • isotone (chemistry)
    any of two or more species of atoms or nuclei that have the same number of neutrons. Thus, chlorine-37 and potassium-39 are isotones, because the nucleus of this species of chlorine consists of 17 protons and 20 neutrons, whereas the nucleus of this species of potassium contains 19 protons and 20 neutrons....
  • isotonic contraction (physiology)
    When a muscle is to lift a constant load (isotonic conditions) after stimulation starts, the force increases, just as in an isometric contraction, and, when the force is equal to the load, the muscle begins to shorten and lifts the load. When both the activity of the muscle and the force in it begin to decline, the load stretches the muscle back to its initial length. The tension in the muscle......
  • isotope (chemistry)
    one of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and position in the periodic table and nearly identical chemical behaviour but with different atomic masses and physical properties. Every chemical element has one or more isotopes....
  • isotope chart (chemistry)
    ...release of various radioactive transitions leads to the fundamental question of nuclear binding energies and stabilities. A much-used method of displaying nuclear-stability relationships is an isotope chart, those positions on the same horizontal row corresponding to a given proton number (Z) and those on the same vertical column to a given neutron number (N). Such a map is......
  • isotope dilution (chemistry)
    radiochemical method of analysis for measuring the mass and quantity of an element in a substance. The procedure involves adding to a substance a known quantity of a radioisotope of the element to be measured and mixing it with the stable isotope of the element. A sample is then taken from the mixture and analyzed. By measuring the amount of radioactive isotope and the amount of stable isotope pr...
  • isotope effect (chemistry)
    Isotopes are atoms that have the same atomic number (and, hence, generally the same chemistry) but different mass. The difference in mass becomes chemically important in certain instances. For example, when a carbon-hydrogen bond is replaced by a carbon-deuterium bond (deuterium being an isotope of hydrogen with about twice the mass), the vibrational frequencies of that bond are changed. The......
  • isotope geochemistry
    Isotopic geochemistry has several principal roles in geology. One is concerned with the enrichment or impoverishment of certain isotopic species that results from the influence of differences in mass of molecules containing different isotopes. Measurements of the proportions of various isotopic species can be used as a form of geologic thermometer. The ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in calcium......
  • isotope geology
    Isotopic geochemistry has several principal roles in geology. One is concerned with the enrichment or impoverishment of certain isotopic species that results from the influence of differences in mass of molecules containing different isotopes. Measurements of the proportions of various isotopic species can be used as a form of geologic thermometer. The ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in calcium......
  • isotope record (geology)
    The isotopic record is based on the ratio of two oxygen isotopes, oxygen-16 (16O) and oxygen-18 (18O), which is determined on calcium carbonate from shells of microfossils that accumulated year by year on the seafloor. The ratio depends on two factors, the temperature and the isotopic composition of the seawater from which the organism secreted its shell. Shells secreted......
  • isotope scanning (medicine)
    In isotope scanning, a radioisotope is introduced into the body, usually by means of intravenous injection. The isotope is then taken up in different amounts by different organs. Its distribution can be determined by recording the radiation it emits, and through charting its concentration it is often possible to recognize the presence, size, and shape of various abnormalities in body organs.......
  • isotope separation (chemistry)
    enrichment of one isotope relative to another in a chemical or physical process. Two isotopes of an element are different in weight but not in gross chemical properties, which are determined by the number of electrons. However, subtle chemical effects do result from the difference in mass of isotopes. Isotopes of an element may have slightly different equilibrium constants for a particular chemica...
  • isotope shift (chemistry)
    Isotopes are atoms that have the same atomic number (and, hence, generally the same chemistry) but different mass. The difference in mass becomes chemically important in certain instances. For example, when a carbon-hydrogen bond is replaced by a carbon-deuterium bond (deuterium being an isotope of hydrogen with about twice the mass), the vibrational frequencies of that bond are changed. The......
  • isotope stratigraphy
    An alternative method gaining increased attention for the correlation of Silurian rocks is by means of isotope stratigraphy, which heretofore has found greater application to rocks of much younger age in the Cenozoic Era. Variations in oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotopes through sequences of layered limestone beds on Anticosti Island, Quebec, and in several localities in northern Europe,......
  • isotope structure (chemistry)
    Isotopes are atoms that have the same atomic number (and, hence, generally the same chemistry) but different mass. The difference in mass becomes chemically important in certain instances. For example, when a carbon-hydrogen bond is replaced by a carbon-deuterium bond (deuterium being an isotope of hydrogen with about twice the mass), the vibrational frequencies of that bond are changed. The......
  • isotopic abundance (chemistry)
    The composition of any object can be given as a set of elemental and isotopic abundances. One may speak, for example, of the composition of the ocean, the solar system, or indeed the Galaxy in terms of its respective elemental and isotopic abundances. Formally, the phrase elemental abundances usually connotes the amounts of the elements in an object expressed relative to one......
  • isotopic dating (chronology)
    In 1905, shortly after the discovery of radioactivity, the American chemist Bertram Boltwood suggested that lead is one of the disintegration products of uranium, in which case the older a uranium-bearing mineral the greater should be its proportional part of lead. Analyzing specimens whose relative geologic ages were known, Boltwood found that the ratio of lead to uranium did indeed increase......
  • isotopic fractionation (chemistry)
    enrichment of one isotope relative to another in a chemical or physical process. Two isotopes of an element are different in weight but not in gross chemical properties, which are determined by the number of electrons. However, subtle chemical effects do result from the difference in mass of isotopes. Isotopes of an element may have slightly different equilibrium constants for a particular chemica...
  • isotopic geochemistry
    Isotopic geochemistry has several principal roles in geology. One is concerned with the enrichment or impoverishment of certain isotopic species that results from the influence of differences in mass of molecules containing different isotopes. Measurements of the proportions of various isotopic species can be used as a form of geologic thermometer. The ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in calcium......
  • isotopic labeling (chemistry)
    any radioactive atom detectable in a material in a chemical, biological, or physical system and used to mark that material for study, to observe its progress through the system, or to determine its distribution. An isotopic tracer must behave as does the material being studied, but, in addition, it must have some distinguishing property by which it can be detected in the presence of the other mat...
  • isotopic ratio (chemistry)
    The composition of any object can be given as a set of elemental and isotopic abundances. One may speak, for example, of the composition of the ocean, the solar system, or indeed the Galaxy in terms of its respective elemental and isotopic abundances. Formally, the phrase elemental abundances usually connotes the amounts of the elements in an object expressed relative to one......
  • isotopic spin (physics)
    property that is characteristic of families of related subatomic particles differing principally in the values of their electric charge. The families of similar particles are known as isospin multiplets: two-particle families are called doublets, three-particle families are called triplets, and so on....
  • isotopic tracer (chemistry)
    any radioactive atom detectable in a material in a chemical, biological, or physical system and used to mark that material for study, to observe its progress through the system, or to determine its distribution. An isotopic tracer must behave as does the material being studied, but, in addition, it must have some distinguishing property by which it can be detected in the presence of the other mat...
  • isotropic material (physics)
    ...liquid crystals, in which the molecules are packed together in such a way as to make the properties of the medium locally anisotropic, but the vast majority of fluids (including air and water) are isotropic. In fluid mechanics, the state of an isotropic fluid may be completely described by defining its mean mass per unit volume, or density (ρろー), its temperature (T), and its velocit...
  • isotropic radiation (physics)
    Spectroscopic evidence that the universe was expanding was followed by the discovery in 1965 of a low level of isotropic microwave radiation by the American scientists Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson. The measured spectrum is identical to the radiation distribution expected from a blackbody, a surface that can absorb all the radiation incident on......
  • isotropy (physics)
    ...liquid crystals, in which the molecules are packed together in such a way as to make the properties of the medium locally anisotropic, but the vast majority of fluids (including air and water) are isotropic. In fluid mechanics, the state of an isotropic fluid may be completely described by defining its mean mass per unit volume, or density (ρろー), its temperature (T), and its velocit...
  • Isotta-Fraschini (Italian company)
    ...Peugeot SA, and Renault (the last two are still in existence). The Italians were later in the field: the Stefanini-Martina of 1896 is thought of as the foundation of the industry in Italy, and Isotta-Fraschini was founded about 1898. Giovanni Agnelli founded Fiat SpA in 1899, saw it grow into one of the weightiest industrial complexes in the world, and maintained personal control until his......
  • isovaleric acidemia (disease)
    Two other inborn errors of metabolism involving branch chain amino acids are isovaleric acidemia and hypervalinemia. In the former, the metabolism of leucine alone is blocked at one specific step by a defect in an enzyme called isovaleryl coenzyme A dehydrogenase. As a result, the level of isovaleric acid rises markedly in body fluids, and the affected individual suffers from episodic acidosis,......
  • Isozaki Arata (Japanese architect)
    one of the best-known of a group of avant-garde Japanese architects of the late 20th century....
  • Isozoanthus giganteus (cnidarian)
    The largest species, Isozoanthus giganteus, grows to about 19 cm (about 7.5 inches) in length and 2 cm in width. Many species live on or in close association with sponges or other animals. Epizoanthus americanus, occurring in Atlantic coastal temperate waters off North America, attaches to the seashell inhabited by a hermit crab, dissolves the shell, and eventually encloses the......
  • ISP
    company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. In addition to providing access to the Internet, ISPs may also provide software packages (such as browsers), e-mail accounts, and a personal Web site or home page. ISPs can host Web sites for businesses and can also build the Web sites themselves. ISPs are all connected t...
  • ispán (Hungarian officer)
    The whole of this land was divided into counties (megyék), each under a royal official called an ispán (comes)—later főispán (supremus comes). This official......
  • İsparta (Turkey)
    city, western Turkey. Known as Baris under the Byzantine Empire, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1203–04. Later it belonged to the Turkmen Hamid principality, the last ruler of which sold it to the Ottoman sultan about 1381. The city’s monuments include a ruined medieval fortress and several mosques, of which Firdevs Paşa Cami is a work of the 16th-centu...
  • Isparta (Turkey)
    city, western Turkey. Known as Baris under the Byzantine Empire, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1203–04. Later it belonged to the Turkmen Hamid principality, the last ruler of which sold it to the Ottoman sultan about 1381. The city’s monuments include a ruined medieval fortress and several mosques, of which Firdevs Paşa Cami is a work of the 16th-centu...
  • Isperikh (Bulgarian leader)
    The fifth product of the breakup of Great Bulgaria was the horde that Kurt’s son Asparukh led westward across the Dniester River and then southward across the Danube. There, on the plain between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, they established the kernel of the so-called first Bulgarian empire—the state from which the modern nation of Bulgaria derives its name. In the 7th centur...
  • Ispica, Cava d’ (cave, Modica, Italy)
    ...Its past wealth is reflected by the church of Sta. Maria di Gesù, the portal and rose window of the church of the Carmine, and the massive Baroque church of S. Giorgio. Nearby is the famous Cava d’Ispica, with thousands of natural grottoes, which were used for habitation and as tombs from before the 14th century bc. Agriculture is presently important in Modica, and t...
  • “Ispoved” (work by Tolstoy)
    Upon completing Anna Karenina, Tolstoy fell into a profound state of existential despair, which he describes in his Ispoved (1884; My Confession). All activity seemed utterly pointless in the face of death, and Tolstoy, impressed by the faith of the common people, turned to religion. Drawn at first to the Russian Orthodox church into which he had been born, he rapidly......
  • ispravnik (Russian official)
    ...but there were political hazards in eliminating it. The power of the central government extended down to the provincial governors and, more tenuously, down to the ispravnik, or chief official of the district, of which each province had several. The ispravnik was elected by the local nobility. Below the level......
  • ISR (device)
    The basic structural element of most colliders is a synchrotron (accelerator) ring. The early collider projects—for example, the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) proton-proton collider, which operated at CERN in the 1970s—were built to collide beams of identical particles and so required two synchrotron rings that were interlaced to bring the beams into collision at two or more......
  • Isrāʾ (Islam)
    in Islām, the Prophet Muḥammad’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. As alluded to in the Qurʾān (17:1), a journey was made by a servant of God, in a single night, from the “sacred place of worship” (al-masjid al-ḥarām) to the “further place of worship” (al-masjid al-aqṣā...
  • Israel
    country in the Middle East, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt, and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem is the capital and t...
  • Israel (Hebrew patriarch)
    Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. Stories about Jacob in the Bible begin at Genesis 25:19....
  • Israel (Old Testament kingdom)
    either of two political units in the Old Testament: the united kingdom of Israel under the kings Saul, David, and Solomon that lasted from about 1020 to 922 bc; or the northern kingdom of Israel, including the territories of the 10 northern tribes (i.e., all except Judah and part of Benjamin), that was established in 922 bc as the result of a revolt led by Jerob...
  • Israel Air Force (Israeli military)
    ...was the nephew of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, and during World War II he served as a pilot in Britain’s Royal Air Force. Afterward he became one of the founding officers of the Israel Air Force (IAF), a branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In 1958 Weizman was appointed commander in chief of the IAF and set out to transform and modernize it, particularly its str...
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