id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
24034c659b6094a8696a041f7d836dc6 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/long-distance-transmission | Long-distance transmission | Long-distance transmission
…virtually replaced copper wire in long-distance telephone lines, and it is used to link computers within local area networks. Fiber optics is also the basis of the fiberscopes used in examining internal parts of the body (endoscopy) or inspecting the interiors of manufactured structural prod... |
7d88acd9ab2e20671888005db0b52af9 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Long-Land | Long Land | Long Land
…army musket, called the “Long Land,” which had a 46-inch (1,168-mm) barrel and a calibre, or bore diameter, of .75 inch (19 mm). The Long Land became popularly known in America as the first model Brown Bess musket. Fighting experience in the wilderness of North America during the Seven…
|
e15996350a9d02983bccfd277f147f08 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/long-span-building | Long-span building | Long-span building
Long-span buildings create unobstructed, column-free spaces greater than 30 metres (100 feet) for a variety of functions. These include activities where visibility is important for large audiences (auditoriums and covered stadiums), where flexibility is important (exhibition halls and certain types o... |
9d1c2816bbadbb7a6c68c1eaf5ebe562 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/longitudinal-magnification | Longitudinal magnification | Longitudinal magnification
Longitudinal magnification denotes the factor by which an image increases in size, as measured along the optical axis. Angular magnification is equal to the ratio of the tangents of the angles subtended by an object and its image when measured from a given point in…
|
35c0d8da5635e99f9d39ce72cfe5b825 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/lorica-hamata | Lorica hamata | Lorica hamata
…legionnaire was equipped with a lorica hamata, a mail shirt, from a very early date. Mail was extremely flexible and provided good protection against cutting and piercing weapons. Its main disadvantage was its weight, which tended to hang from the shoulders and waist. In addition, strips of mail tended t... |
5170a112644a585301c3345f28fd8044 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/low-bypass-turbofan | Low-bypass turbofan | Low-bypass turbofan
In the next higher regime of aircraft flight speed, the low supersonic range from Mach numbers above 1 up to 2 or 3, one finds the application of the simple turbojet (with no bypass stream) and the low-bypass turbofan engine (with…
|
1c8bcfa583d8186895653680d71e1899 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/lubrication | Lubrication | Lubrication
Lubrication, introduction of any of various substances between sliding surfaces to reduce wear and friction. Nature has been applying lubrication since the evolution of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints and bursas of vertebrate animals. Prehistoric people used mud and reeds to lubricate sledges ... |
eed39866e6c4163f5d8b4656a14f971c | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Ludlow-typesetting-machine | Ludlow | Ludlow
The Ludlow is considered a combination machine; though it automatically casts slugs, it is related to hand composition by the way the matrices are assembled. The matrices are bronze blocks bearing the letter or sign engraved in intaglio on their lower side and with two shoulders…
|
b69b9aa006fa59aa32d2bb9535508d4b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/luminous-paint | Luminous paint | Luminous paint
Luminous paint, paint that glows in the dark because it contains a phosphor, a substance that emits light for a certain length of time after exposure to an energy source, such as ultraviolet radiation. Zinc sulfide and calcium sulfide are such phosphors.
Some luminous paints contain a source of radiant... |
b0558cef10e07c325d4fecff3289e37b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Luna-space-probe | Luna | Luna
Luna, any of a series of 24 unmanned Soviet lunar probes launched between 1959 and 1976.
Luna 1 (launched Jan. 2, 1959) was the first spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity. It failed to impact the Moon as planned and became the first man-made object to go into orbit around the Sun. Luna 2 (launched Sept. 12, 1959)... |
b0835e57ee94c09d381f80d8b2626dc7 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Lunar-Roving-Vehicle-Apollo-program | Lunar Roving Vehicle | Lunar Roving Vehicle
Using the Lunar Roving Vehicle, they covered about 28 km (18 miles) on three separate treks and spent more than 17 hours outside their lunar module. The mission returned to Earth on August 7.
|
5c8bfafe74eecde1413994912433dbf1 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/lych-gate | Lych-gate | Lych-gate
Lych-gate, also spelled lich-gate, also called corpse gate, (from Middle English lyche, “body”; yate, “gate”) roofed-in gateway to a churchyard in which a bier might stand while the introductory part of the burial service was read. The most common form of lych-gate was a simple shed composed of a roof with t... |
8275b8d38e1fbb244d09dd1920351811 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/machine-tool/Adaptive-control | Adaptive control | Adaptive control
Improvements in CNC machine tools depend on the refinement of adaptive control, which is the automatic monitoring and adjustment of machining conditions in response to variations in operation performance. With a manually controlled machine tool, the operator watches for changes in machining performance... |
97af813e7bf1cb62991ef78719acccdb | https://www.britannica.com/technology/machine/Mechanism-of-a-machine | Mechanism of a machine | Mechanism of a machine
According to the definition, both forces and motions are transmitted and modified in a machine. The way in which the parts of a machine are interconnected and guided to produce a required output motion from a given input motion is known as the mechanism of the machine. The piston, connecting rod,... |
9cf9474e40d6781fa9a8828ac549dd87 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/magazine-military-technology | Magazine | Magazine
…logistic innovations were notable: the magazine, a strategically located prestocked depot, usually established to support an army conducting a siege; and its smaller, mobile version, the rolling magazine, which carried a few days’ supply for an army on the march. Secure lines of communication became vital, an... |
3547707cd179583cd3309e82510b5602 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/maglev-train | Maglev | Maglev
Maglev, also called magnetic levitation train or maglev train, a floating vehicle for land transportation that is supported by either electromagnetic attraction or repulsion. Maglevs were conceptualized during the early 1900s by American professor and inventor Robert Goddard and French-born American engineer Em... |
999c11a39c5abf9567a089214c118c23 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/magnetic-random-access-memory | Magnetic random access memory | Magnetic random access memory
Known as magnetic random access memory (MRAM), a line of electrically switchable magnetic material is separated from a permanently magnetized layer by a nanoscale nonmagnetic interlayer. A resistance change that depends on the relative alignment of the fields is read electrically from a la... |
199f777914c37e5d532319b01333571a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/magneto-optical-disk | Magneto-optical disk | Magneto-optical disk
Magneto-optical discs are a hybrid storage medium. In reading, spots with different directions of magnetization give different polarization in the reflected light of a low-power laser beam. In writing, every spot on the disk is first heated by a strong laser beam and…
|
d02dd3be6894330bf1510e727dd5b4df | https://www.britannica.com/technology/magnetometer | Magnetometer | Magnetometer
Magnetometer,, instrument for measuring the strength and sometimes the direction of magnetic fields, including those on or near the Earth and in space. Magnetometers are also used to calibrate electromagnets and permanent magnets and to determine the magnetization of materials.
Magnetometers specifically... |
40871302f170a6b687996866e12ef2bd | https://www.britannica.com/technology/magnetron | Magnetron | Magnetron
Magnetron, diode vacuum tube consisting of a cylindrical (straight wire) cathode and a coaxial anode, between which a dc (direct current) potential creates an electric field. A magnetic field is applied longitudinally by an external magnet. Connected to a resonant line, it can act as an oscillator. Magnetron... |
c2e375117fe4e366a52118a53b558057 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mainframe | Mainframe | Mainframe
Mainframe, Digital computer designed for high-speed data processing with heavy use of input/output units such as large-capacity disks and printers. They have been used for such applications as payroll computations, accounting, business transactions, information retrieval, airline seat reservations, and scien... |
f0316f3dccbfb3930bba146efb369c2e | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mallet-tool | Mallet | Mallet
With the mallet and chisel still other interrelations are involved. When working stone, a brittle material that responds to a sharp tool point by breaking into small chips, the sculptor strikes many light blows to remove material. As a consequence, mallets have short handles and the amplitude…
The mallet has a r... |
1c72b4d78ea453e9ac5ab10b83675880 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/man-made-fiber | Man-made fibre | Man-made fibre
Man-made fibre, fibre whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. Man-made fibres are spun and woven into a huge number of consumer and industrial products, including garments such as shirts, scarves, and hosiery; home furnishings su... |
d1ae75940df1305d832ddd26acb703e6 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/man-made-fiber/Processing-and-fabrication | Processing and fabrication | Processing and fabrication
Polymer that is to be converted into fibre must first be converted to a liquid or semiliquid state, either by being dissolved in a solvent or by being heated until molten. This process frees the long molecules from close association with one another, allowing them to move independently. The r... |
21ff17961ba77a3702fcc6f56acb0e71 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mandrel | Mandrel | Mandrel
Mandrel, cylinder, usually steel, used to support a partly machined workpiece while it is being finished, or as a core around which parts may be bent or other material forged or molded. As a support during machining, the mandrel is usually slightly tapered so that when firmly pressed into a previously machine... |
d619ba6f7ce2a46e6466787dd6c262e6 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/manor-house | Manor house | Manor house
Manor house, during the European Middle Ages, the dwelling of the lord of the manor or his residential bailiff and administrative centre of the feudal estate. The medieval manor was generally fortified in proportion to the degree of peaceful settlement of the country or region in which it was located. The... |
5378e3d8688179b556259ff94a3709dc | https://www.britannica.com/technology/maser | Maser | Maser
Maser, device that produces and amplifies electromagnetic radiation mainly in the microwave region of the spectrum. The maser operates according to the same basic principle as the laser (the name of which is formed from the acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”) and shares many of... |
8608bc1378757169d5051085b682aae1 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mashup | Mashup | Mashup
Mashup, a combination of multiple data formats or sources, such as maps, music, photographs, video, and animations, into one digital file. Mashup originally referred to combinations of sampled music from different songs.
Google Earth, from the American search engine company Google Inc., is one of the most frequ... |
a07d42378b0d8107c48deee55edff4fe | https://www.britannica.com/technology/matchlock | Matchlock | Matchlock
Matchlock, in firearms, a device for igniting gunpowder developed in the 15th century, a major advance in the manufacture of small arms. The matchlock was the first mechanical firing device. It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held a match, and a trigger device that lowered the serpen... |
edc894b643e52bb13625b0b8999b73a2 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/material | Material | Material
…of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material’s composition and structure. It grew out of an amalgam of solid-state physics, metallurgy, and chemistry, since the rich variety of materials properties cannot be understood within the context of any single classical di... |
11826f112c0b0477aa2ff6139f52e627 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/materials-handling | Materials handling | Materials handling
Materials handling, the movement of raw goods from their native site to the point of use in manufacturing, their subsequent manipulation in production processes, and the transfer of finished products from factories and their distribution to users or sales outlets.
In early systems of handling materi... |
1cdebae0f6a156ab3ef418d03f83e732 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/materials-science | Materials science | Materials science
Materials science, the study of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material’s composition and structure. It grew out of an amalgam of solid-state physics, metallurgy, and chemistry, since the rich variety of materials properties cannot be understood within ... |
8dfed51c59a2d5f7cb543459f85d96ea | https://www.britannica.com/technology/materials-science/Optical-switching | Optical switching | Optical switching
Research in this area is driven by the need to switch data streams of higher and higher speed efficiently as customers for computer and communications services demand transmission and switching rates far higher than can be provided by a purely electronic system. Thanks to developments in semiconductor... |
68a27b1d15c90e6fb60b4908ba2a4708 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/materials-science/Photovoltaics | Photovoltaics | Photovoltaics
Photovoltaic systems are an attractive alternative to fossil or nuclear fuels for the generation of electricity. Sunlight is free, it does not use up an irreplaceable resource, and its conversion to electricity is nonpolluting. In fact, photovoltaics are now in use where power lines from utility grids are... |
7903faba7f444d2687c887aff0d5ab0e | https://www.britannica.com/technology/materials-testing | Materials testing | Materials testing
Materials testing, measurement of the characteristics and behaviour of such substances as metals, ceramics, or plastics under various conditions. The data thus obtained can be used in specifying the suitability of materials for various applications—e.g., building or aircraft construction, machinery, ... |
220c381728029f7facae2c2ac2a92938 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MATLAB | MATLAB | MATLAB
…known of these PSEs is MATLAB, a commercial package that is arguably the most popular way to do numerical computing. Two popular computer programs for handling algebraic-analytic mathematics (manipulating and displaying formulas) are Maple and Mathematica.
|
18fc53a4767580c87b8db2b839779f79 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Maxim-machine-gun | Maxim machine gun | Maxim machine gun
Maxim machine gun, first fully automatic machine gun (q.v.), developed by engineer and inventor Hiram Maxim in about 1884, while he was residing in England. It was manufactured by Vickers and was sometimes known as the Vickers-Maxim and sometimes just Vickers. These guns were used by every major pow... |
74e87c64bb1f21252c11270b34e61c74 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Maybach | Maybach | Maybach
…the United States; the Horch, Maybach, and Mercedes-Benz of Germany; the Belgian Minerva; and the Italian Isotta-Fraschini. These were costly machines, priced roughly from \$7,500 to \$40,000, fast (145 to 210 km, or 90 to 130 miles, per hour), as comfortable as the state of the art would allow, and…
…August B... |
a8c1e835fc5f421ec80e7223fe9e7d08 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/meat-processing/Protein | Protein | Protein
Meat is an excellent source of protein. As is explained above, these proteins carry out specific functions in living muscle tissue and in the conversion of muscle to meat. They include actin and myosin (myofibrillar proteins), glycolytic enzymes and myoglobin (sarcoplasmic proteins), and collagen (connective ti... |
4db2d339b4caccca4bc82feb5052582b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/meat-processing/Skeletal-muscle-contraction | Skeletal muscle contraction | Skeletal muscle contraction
The contraction of skeletal muscles is an energy-requiring process. In order to perform the mechanical work of contraction, actin and myosin utilize the chemical energy of the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is synthesized in muscle cells from the storage polysaccharide glycogen, ... |
df4ac2a2ac7f0701a2782742afbe1acb | https://www.britannica.com/technology/medium-bypass-turbofan | Medium-bypass turbofan | Medium-bypass turbofan
Moving up in the spectrum of flight speeds to the transonic regime—Mach numbers from 0.75 to 0.9—the most common engine configurations are turbofan engines, such as those shown in Figures 4 and 5. In a turbofan, only a…
|
affee515f05e335c45de0e17f76bab06 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/megaron | Megaron | Megaron
Megaron, in ancient Greece and the Middle East, architectural form consisting of an open porch, a vestibule, and a large hall with a central hearth and a throne. The megaron was found in all Mycenaean palaces and was also built as part of houses. It seemingly originated in the Middle East, attaining a peculia... |
9ccb57c77a897e9e06303f8815d491d8 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/membrane-bioreactor-process | Membrane bioreactor process | Membrane bioreactor process
In the membrane bioreactor process, hollow-fibre microfiltration membrane modules are submerged in a single tank in which aeration, secondary clarification, and filtration can occur, thereby providing both secondary and tertiary treatment in a small land area.
|
7c3b1c0cdb666374163a9c3cfdfe837a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mercerization | Mercerization | Mercerization
Mercerization, in textiles, a chemical treatment applied to cotton fibres or fabrics to permanently impart a greater affinity for dyes and various chemical finishes. Mercerizing also gives cotton cloth increased tensile strength, greater absorptive properties, and, usually, a high degree of lustre, depe... |
df811d35b84b6cb3f813013be6a40d90 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/merlon | Merlon | Merlon
…battlements), and high portions called merlons. Battlements were devised in order that warriors might be protected by the merlons and yet be able to discharge arrows or other missiles through the crenels. The battlement was an early development in military architecture; it was found in Chaldea, Egypt, and prehi... |
8e6d72c6a45045bce8e11335acd35173 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mesoscaphe | Mesoscaphe | Mesoscaphe
Mesoscaphe, diving vessel built by the Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard that suspended itself automatically at predetermined depths. The first mesoscaphe was built for the 1964 Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne and designed as a tourist submarine for 40 passengers. Although it could descend to more than... |
7e42f478a7b451b1c812c6adba4bacb7 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Messenger-United-States-spacecraft | Messenger | Messenger
Messenger, in full Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, U.S. spacecraft that studied Mercury’s surface and environment. The name was selected in honour of ancient Greek observers who perceived Mercury in its 88-day orbit of the Sun and named it for the messenger of the gods (Hermes,... |
4f9ec386f2b8584f25eac2880f5c18a3 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/metallic-fiber | Metallic fibre | Metallic fibre
Metallic fibre, in textiles, synthetic fibre, known generically as metallic, including manufactured fibres composed of metal, metal-coated plastic, or of a core covered by metal (usually aluminum). Trademarked names include Chromeflex, Lurex, and Melora. Foil types are made with a metal foil that is co... |
a4071e83fa0223a04170c9c9281803ea | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microfabrication | Microfabrication | Microfabrication
Microfabrication techniques developed for the integrated-circuit semiconductor industry are used to construct large arrays of individual photodiodes closely spaced together. The device, called a charge-coupled device (CCD), permits the charges that are collected by the individual diodes to be read out ... |
f1af5bc0f400d71bdf6d1d14bde124af | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microprogramming | Microprogramming | Microprogramming
Microprogramming, Process of writing microcode for a microprocessor. Microcode is low-level code that defines how a microprocessor should function when it executes machine-language instructions. Typically, one machine-language instruction translates into several microcode instructions. On some compute... |
465801b37ad5a1756940ad1482c59b1a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope | Microscope | Microscope
Microscope, instrument that produces enlarged images of small objects, allowing the observer an exceedingly close view of minute structures at a scale convenient for examination and analysis. Although optical microscopes are the subject of this article, an image may also be enlarged by many other wave forms... |
a1d90629d1a6daa36dd97a30f0dd4332 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope/Confocal-microscopes | Confocal microscopes | Confocal microscopes
The field of view of a microscope is limited by the geometric optics and by the ability to design optics that provide a constant aberration correction over a large field of view. If a scanning arrangement is used, the objective can be used over a continuous series of small fields and the results us... |
5e569b2a6d8cf45d212bc136a3b74153 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope/Magnification | Magnification | Magnification
It is instinctive, when one wishes to examine the details of an object, to bring it as near as possible to the eye. The closer the object is to the eye, the larger the angle that it subtends at the eye, and thus the larger the object appears. If an object is brought too close, however, the eye can no long... |
87ce1596643d3040c2eff03212d3f279 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope/Stereoscopic-microscopes | Stereoscopic microscopes | Stereoscopic microscopes
Binocular stereomicroscopes are a matched pair of microscopes mounted side by side with a small angle between the optical axes. The object is imaged independently to each eye, and the stereoscopic effect, which permits discrimination of relief on the object, is retained. The effect can be exagg... |
57f54a15f5b0b1866a397b6fddff3d3f | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope/The-compound-microscope | The compound microscope | The compound microscope
The limitations on resolution (and therefore magnifying power) imposed by the constraints of a simple microscope can be overcome by the use of a compound microscope, in which the image is relayed by two lens arrays. One of them, the objective, has a short focal length and is placed close to the ... |
6c4482948e5d0c111ac7ff4cc3b73225 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope/The-illumination-system | The illumination system | The illumination system
The illumination system of the standard optical microscope is designed to transmit light through a translucent object for viewing. In a modern microscope it consists of a light source, such as an electric lamp or a light-emitting diode, and a lens system forming the condenser.
The condenser is p... |
59c093a41a143b1ead37601cce6c404c | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-Excel | Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel, spreadsheet application launched in 1985 by the Microsoft Corporation. Excel is a popular spreadsheet system, which organizes data in columns and rows that can be manipulated through formulas that allow the software to perform mathematical functions on the data.
Lotus 1-2-3, first sold... |
9ec93163ca1c1bbd98057a68b822dbfb | https://www.britannica.com/technology/middleware | Middleware | Middleware
Middleware, computer software that enables communication between multiple software applications, possibly running on more than one machine.
Computer applications and Web sites frequently employ many different programs, often running on different computers, that need to work together. A user may interface wi... |
288976cfd013e485ea4d5ebfd634a1b7 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/midwing | Midwing | Midwing
Midwings, positioned in the middle of the fuselage, leave the airplane belly free of spars, with room for bombs or cargo. Placed below the fuselage, low wings reduce the height of the undercarriage and simplify engine maintenance.
|
eb364bc0d75556c30aede099d2adbbff | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MiG-19 | MiG-19 | MiG-19
Twin engines made the MiG-19, first flown in 1953, the first supersonic fighter of European manufacture, but it was surpassed in 1955 by the MiG-21, a lightweight, single-engine interceptor capable of flying at twice the speed of sound. The basic version, which entered service in 1958, was a simple,…
|
0b58a896a3a827a87c3f577ed548d7c4 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MiG-21 | MiG-21 | MiG-21
…Soviet supersonic fighter), and the MiG-21 (capable of about twice the speed of sound). The design bureau produced more than 9,000 MiG-21s in as many as 32 versions for the air forces of the Soviet Union and more than 40 other countries and licensed a version for production in China.…
…surpassed in 1955 by the ... |
62943bac5efd99906a6790e03d02803d | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MiG-9 | MiG-9 | MiG-9
The MiG-9, which first flew in 1946, did little more than apply jet propulsion to a piston-engine airframe; but the MiG-15, built with swept-back wings derived from German wartime research and powered by a copy of a Rolls-Royce engine, became one of the best of the…
|
e8c706fbb0193aac82dd0d1ed8b93edd | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Mil-Mi-24-Hind | Mil Mi-24 Hind | Mil Mi-24 Hind
…and in 1978 the smaller Mil Mi-24 set a helicopter speed record of 368.4 km (228.9 miles) per hour.
… of the 1980s, fielded the Mil Mi-24 Hind, the fastest and possibly most capable helicopter gunship of its time. A primary role of the Hind was to attack armoured vehicles; to this end it mounted guided ... |
177835239c7bdc89ba98122dd9ff06fa | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/Fighters | Fighters | Fighters
The importance of aerial reconnaissance and artillery spotting (particularly the latter) made it clear that the belligerent able to deny the enemy use of airspaces above the battlefield would enjoy enormous advantages. This realization led to the emergence of fighters as a distinct category of aircraft. In the... |
753c9798347a435cbcf2eea609b06101 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/Helicopters | Helicopters | Helicopters
The helicopter had its first significant impact on military operations during the Korean War, but it came of age in Vietnam. Helicopters fielded air-mobile infantry units, evacuated casualties, hauled artillery and ammunition, rescued downed aviators, and served as ground-attack craft. Helicopters became se... |
50aafe871e60f7031e8d1cf738b9df5a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/Interwar-developments | Interwar developments | Interwar developments
In the two decades between the end of World War I and the start of World War II, military aviation underwent a complete transformation. The typical combat aircraft of 1918 was a fabric-covered externally braced biplane with fixed landing gear and open cockpits. Few aero engines developed as much a... |
6f27a6c9845dafdbe31114dbd6a9ead8 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/Stealth | Stealth | Stealth
The existence of a Stealth program, designed to produce aircraft that were effectively immune to radar detection at normal combat ranges, was announced by the U.S. government in 1980. The first aircraft employing this technology, the single-seat Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk ground-attack fighter, became operationa... |
5eae85068524b1acc846bc21f7ff3ad0 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/The-jet-age | The jet age | The jet age
Beginning in the 1920s, steady advances in aircraft performance had been produced by improved structures and drag-reduction technologies and by more powerful, supercharged engines, but by the early 1930s it had become apparent to a handful of farsighted engineers that speeds would soon be possible that woul... |
de6100921bde308d4fc07bd8c7481a1a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/Unmanned-aerial-vehicles-UAVs | Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) | Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
UAVs are aircraft that are guided autonomously, by remote control, or by both means and that carry some combination of sensors, electronic receivers and transmitters, and offensive ordnance. They are used for strategic and operational reconnaissance and for battlefield surveillance, and ... |
2048da6d963c9f6c78a66f86532a6eb3 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-aircraft/World-War-I | World War I | World War I
At the start of World War I the German armed forces had 10 zeppelins and three smaller airships, but this impressive offensive capability was largely offset by the highly explosive nature of the hydrogen gas that gave the zeppelins their lifting power. After losing three zeppelins in daylight raids over hea... |
f1c2f1edb3da65f9462f27df4cfa2e07 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-communication/From-World-War-I-to-1940 | From World War I to 1940 | From World War I to 1940
The onset of World War I found the opposing armies equipped to a varying degree with modern means of signal communication but with little appreciation of the enormous load that signal systems must carry to maintain control of the huge forces that were set in motion. The organization and efficie... |
f424ddb8d480f1f02379c8c6bf475285 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-technology/Personal-armour | Personal armour | Personal armour
The availability to mounted warrior elites of iron armour of high quality, particularly mail, was instrumental in the fall of Rome and in the establishment of European feudalism. Until the 10th century, however, there was little qualitative difference between the body armour of the western European knig... |
0f4e310bc66bf13a49e8bea35e00bfbc | https://www.britannica.com/technology/military-technology/The-flintlock | The flintlock | The flintlock
Flintlock firing mechanisms were known by the middle of the 16th century, about a hundred years before they made their appearance in quantity in infantry muskets. A flintlock was similar to a wheel lock except that ignition came from a blow of flint against steel, with the sparks directed into the priming... |
02f560634069211c339642baa383c37f | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mill | Mill | Mill
The fulling mill invented during the Middle Ages was a twofold innovation: first, two wooden hammers replaced human feet; and second, the hammers were raised and dropped by the power of a water mill. Only one man needed to keep the cloth moving properly in the trough,…
…Middle Ages usually designated a mill. Of th... |
4b2095502d530a54918eff29bab9383c | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Miller-process | Miller process | Miller process
Miller’s process of refining impure gold with chlorine gas (patented in Britain in 1867) and Emil Wohlwill’s electrorefining process (introduced in Hamburg, Ger., in 1878), it became possible routinely to achieve higher purities than had been allowed by fire refining.
…commonly employed for purification:... |
0820fe95a5ab63f45433f0337b651b8c | https://www.britannica.com/technology/milling-cutter | Milling cutter | Milling cutter
…rotating cutting tool called a milling cutter. Cutters of many shapes and sizes are available for a wide variety of milling operations. Milling machines cut flat surfaces, grooves, shoulders, inclined surfaces, dovetails, and T-slots. Various form-tooth cutters are used for cutting concave forms and con... |
2994559756386e8c126358acd9ffdb1f | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mimeograph | Mimeograph | Mimeograph
Mimeograph, also called stencil duplicator, duplicating machine that uses a stencil consisting of a coated fibre sheet through which ink is pressed. Employing a typewriter with the ribbon shifted out of the way so that the keys do not strike it, the information to be duplicated is typed on the stencil. The ... |
22f6c26d5e506b868ad466279024bb84 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mining | Mining | Mining
Mining, process of extracting useful minerals from the surface of the Earth, including the seas. A mineral, with a few exceptions, is an inorganic substance occurring in nature that has a definite chemical composition and distinctive physical properties or molecular structure. (One organic substance, coal, is o... |
c22bf23ea1a4e7a15c17634cf52fcd4e | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mitrailleuse | Mitrailleuse | Mitrailleuse
The French mitrailleuse was also a multibarreled weapon, but it used a loading plate that contained a cartridge for each of its 25 barrels. The barrels and the loading plate remained fixed, and a mechanism (operated by a crank) struck individual firing pins simultaneously…
|
efe31e69cbf16bafed603af5b3d0c989 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/molding-architecture | Molding | Molding
Molding, also spelled moulding, in architecture and the decorative arts, a defining, transitional, or terminal element that contours or outlines the edges and surfaces on a projection or cavity, such as a cornice, architrave, capital, arch, base, or jamb. The surface of a molding is modeled with recesses and r... |
ab6ff213ba04855c8ad4494f21c08aaf | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Molotov-cocktail | Molotov cocktail | Molotov cocktail
…liquid that became known as Molotov cocktails.) In his wartime dealings with the Allies and afterward, he earned a reputation for uncompromising hostility to the West.
|
2f86dd41250f55c3a94128aaa1e934c9 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Moores-law | Moore's law | Moore's law
Moore’s law, prediction made by American engineer Gordon Moore in 1965 that the number of transistors per silicon chip doubles every year.
For a special issue of the journal Electronics, Moore was asked to predict developments over the next decade. Observing that the total number of components in these cir... |
4e6e6e69a56c53d9559a4e0a0f378b0f | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mortar-weapon | Mortar | Mortar
Mortar, portable, short-barreled, muzzle-loading artillery piece that fires explosive projectiles at low velocities, short ranges, and high, arcing trajectories. The weapon is contrasted with larger artillery pieces, which fire at high velocities, long ranges, and low, direct trajectories. A present-day mortar ... |
562808fe00c3ef1465084ca1bd172c1b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/motel | Motel | Motel
Motel, also called Motor Lodge, Motor Court, Tourist Court, or Motor Inn, originally a hotel designed for persons travelling by automobile, with convenient parking space provided. Motels serve commercial and business travellers and persons attending conventions and meetings as well as vacationers and tourists. T... |
5c94db7511069ef161b7aa9dee74c99f | https://www.britannica.com/technology/motion-picture-technology | Motion-picture technology | Motion-picture technology
Motion-picture technology, the means for the production and showing of motion pictures. It includes not only the motion-picture camera and projector but also such technologies as those involved in recording sound, in editing both picture and sound, in creating special effects, and in producin... |
e4e365ba96331e012a51c0b42402f451 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/motion-picture-technology/Wide-screen-and-stereoscopic-pictures | Wide-screen and stereoscopic pictures | Wide-screen and stereoscopic pictures
Until the early 1950s, the screen shape, or aspect ratio (expressed as the ratio of frame width to frame height), was generally 1.33 to 1, or 4 to 3. In the mid-1950s the ratio became standardized at 1.85 to 1 in the United States and 1.66 or 1.75 to 1 in Europe. These slightly wid... |
11e0629f77f4034250685193792eae9b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MP3 | MP3 | MP3
MP3, in full MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, a data compression format for encoding digital audio, most commonly music. MP3 files offer substantial fidelity to compact disc (CD) sources at vastly reduced file sizes.
In 1993 the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) r... |
3fb7825bb9b3f1603ee8369a3058ba34 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MS-DOS | MS-DOS | MS-DOS
MS-DOS, in full Microsoft Disk Operating System, the dominant operating system for the personal computer (PC) throughout the 1980s. The acquisition and marketing of MS-DOS were pivotal in the Microsoft Corporation’s transition to software industry giant.
American computer programmer Timothy Paterson, a develope... |
ce09d4798783936f3660b3c52a48deeb | https://www.britannica.com/technology/MU5 | MU5 | MU5
…started his last computer project, MU5. Operational by 1972, MU5 pioneered an architecture geared to the requirements of high-level languages (languages with more humanlike syntax).
|
3eb7d29aaa15b455df06a31fac801ba1 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/mucker | Mucker | Mucker
Commonly, the mucker is a type of front-end loader that moves the broken rock onto a belt conveyor that dumps it into a hauling system of cars or trucks. As all operations are concentrated at the heading, congestion is chronic, and much ingenuity has gone into designing…
|
ddc3293e3fdbb82a1dcdc9c19aaf8ede | https://www.britannica.com/technology/nailhead | Nailhead | Nailhead
Nailhead, projecting ornamental molding resembling the head of a nail, used in early Gothic architecture. Nailheads were used to fasten nailwork to a door, which was often studded with them decoratively, as well. They show great variety in design and are sometimes very elaborate.
On the few original doors of ... |
44404abbacb06badebdaccc58f595253 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/nanotechnology | Nanotechnology | Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, the manipulation and manufacture of materials and devices on the scale of atoms or small groups of atoms. The “nanoscale” is typically measured in nanometres, or billionths of a metre (nanos, the Greek word for “dwarf,” being the source of the prefix), and materials built at this scale o... |
3a8466796524a0e25701da71165e5b6b | https://www.britannica.com/technology/nanotechnology/Pioneers | Pioneers | Pioneers
A number of key technological milestones have been achieved by working pioneers. Molecular beam epitaxy, invented by Alfred Cho and John Arthur at Bell Labs in 1968 and developed in the 1970s, enabled the controlled deposition of single atomic layers. This tool provided for nanostructuring in one dimension as ... |
b69a0464ccb62e62432ab5c092fcd49d | https://www.britannica.com/technology/nanowire | Nanowire | Nanowire
Nanowire, thin wire, generally having a diameter less than or equal to 100 nanometers (1 nm = 1 × 10−9 metre). The first nanoscale quantum-well wire (a thinly layered semiconductor structure) was developed in 1987 by scientists at Bell Laboratories. A nanowire of more-refined design was developed and describe... |
c02ce8dc0fc3b24d8e3c6747ad3ee73a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/Natural-Vision | Natural Vision | Natural Vision
The first 3-D film in Natural Vision was Bwana Devil (1952), which was followed by several hastily shot action films. It is generally believed that the popularity of 3-D in the United States subsided after about a year because of the low quality of the films presented. Filmmakers in Italy,…
…1952) and st... |
eb6670ceb4ee722238f0edda9b5dd301 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/navigation-technology/Radar | Radar | Radar
Radio waves with wavelengths in the centimetre range can be beamed by a reflector, like light in an automobile headlamp, to make up a radar system. The narrowness of the beam depends on the length of the waves and on the width of the reflector. For ships and aircraft, radio waves of a very few centimetres in leng... |
bfc3b629eb7515000dd78202c670c270 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/navigation-technology/The-gyromagnetic-compass | The gyromagnetic compass | The gyromagnetic compass
The errors that occur in aircraft and small, fast vessels during alterations of course or speed can be avoided by mounting the compass on a platform kept horizontal by a gyroscope. The directive element must be nonpendulous. The vertical pin supporting the compass needle can be pivoted at both ... |
4f3ac75bd24f7ec124d927879784ce72 | https://www.britannica.com/technology/needle-tool | Needle | Needle
Needle, basic implement used in sewing or embroidering and, in variant forms, for knitting and crocheting. The sewing needle is small, slender, rodlike, with a sharply pointed end to facilitate passing through fabric and with the opposite end slotted to carry a thread. Bone and horn needles have been used for ... |
bb4b1a43738e022948ca987525b44f6d | https://www.britannica.com/technology/negative | Negative | Negative
Negative, photographic image that reproduces the bright portions of the photographed subject as dark and the dark parts as light areas. Negatives are usually formed on a transparent material, such as plastic or glass. Exposure of sensitized paper through the negative, done either by placing the negative and ... |
7945cd37371f80c7c2a2efa431aab90a | https://www.britannica.com/technology/neural-network | Neural network | Neural network
Neural network, a computer program that operates in a manner inspired by the natural neural network in the brain. The objective of such artificial neural networks is to perform such cognitive functions as problem solving and machine learning. The theoretical basis of neural networks was developed in 194... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.