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ethane
ethane , CH 3 CH 3 , gaseous hydrocarbon. It is a continuous-chain alkane . As a constituent of natural gas, it is used for fuel. It can be prepared by cracking and fractional distillation of petroleum.
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poison gas
poison gas any of various gases sometimes used in warfare or riot control because of their poisonous or corrosive nature. These gases may be roughly grouped according to the portal of entry into the body and their physiological effects. Vesicants (blister gases) produce blisters on all body surface...
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compressor
compressor machine that decreases the volume of air or other gas by the application of pressure. Compressor types range from the simple hand pump and the piston-equipped compressor used to inflate tires to machines that use a rotating, bladed element to achieve compression. The four basic types o...
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competition
competition in economics, rivalry in supplying or acquiring an economic service or good. Sellers compete with other sellers, and buyers with other buyers. In its perfect form, there is competition among many small buyers and sellers, none of whom is too large to affect the market as a whole; in pra...
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natural gas
natural gas natural mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons found issuing from the ground or obtained from specially driven wells. The composition of natural gas varies in different localities. Its chief component, methane , usually makes up from 80% to 95%, and the balance is composed of varying amount...
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Office of Price Administration
Office of Price Administration (OPA), U.S. federal agency in World War II, established to prevent wartime inflation. The OPA issued (Apr., 1942) a general maximum-price regulation that made prices charged in Mar., 1942, the ceiling prices for most commodities. Ceilings were also imposed on resident...
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public utility
public utility industry required by law to render adequate service in its field at reasonable prices to all who apply for it. Public utilities frequently operate as monopolies in their market. In the United States, public utilities are most commonly involved in the business of supplying consumers w...
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diffusion
diffusion in chemistry, the spontaneous migration of substances from regions where their concentration is high to regions where their concentration is low. Diffusion is important in many life processes. It occurs, for example, across the alveolar membrane of the lung, which separates the carbon-dio...
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Alaska North Slope
Alaska North Slope or Arctic North Slope, region, N Alaska, sloping from the Brooks Range N to the Arctic Ocean. In 1968 large petroleum reserves were found in the Prudhoe Bay area. In 1977 the 800-mi (1,287 km) Trans-Alaska pipeline was completed to carry oil S to the port of Valdez, on the ...
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butane
butane , C 4 H 10 , gaseous alkane , a hydrocarbon that is obtained from natural gas or by refining petroleum. It can be liquefied at room temperature by compression. There are two structural isomers of butane. In normal butane, or n -butane, the four carbon atoms are joined in a continuous, unb...
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