Spherical Earth — Medieval artistic representation of a spherical Earth with compartments representing earth, air, and water (c. 1400). The concept of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greek philosophy from around the 6th century BC … Wikipedia
Spherical harmonics — In mathematics, the spherical harmonics are the angular portion of an orthogonal set of solutions to Laplace s equation represented in a system of spherical coordinates. Spherical harmonics are important in many theoretical and practical… … Wikipedia
Mean free path — In physics, the mean free path is the average distance covered by a moving particle (such as an atom, a molecule, a photon) between successive impacts (collisions) [1] which modify its direction or energy or other particle properties. Contents 1… … Wikipedia
Relative direction — A right handed Cartesian coordinate system, illustrating the x (right left), y (forward backward) and z (up down) axes relative to a human being. The most common relative directions are left, right … Wikipedia
Milky Way Galaxy — Large spiral galaxy (roughly 150,000 light years in diameter) that contains Earth s solar system. It includes the multitude of stars whose light is seen as the Milky Way, the irregular luminous band that encircles the sky defining the plane of… … Universalium
cosmos — /koz meuhs, mohs/, n., pl. cosmos, cosmoses for 2, 4. 1. the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system. 2. a complete, orderly, harmonious system. 3. order; harmony. 4. any composite plant of the genus Cosmos, of tropical… … Universalium
climate — /kluy mit/, n. 1. the composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years. 2. a region or… … Universalium
fluid mechanics — an applied science dealing with the basic principles of gaseous and liquid matter. Cf. fluid dynamics. [1940 45] * * * Study of the effects of forces and energy on liquids and gases. One branch of the field, hydrostatics, deals with fluids at… … Universalium
Differential geometry of surfaces — Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1828 In mathematics, the differential geometry of surfaces deals with smooth surfaces with various additional structures, most often, a Riemannian metric. Surfaces have been extensively studied from various perspectives:… … Wikipedia
geoid — geoidal, adj. /jee oyd/, n. 1. an imaginary surface that coincides with mean sea level in the ocean and its extension through the continents. 2. the geometric figure formed by this surface, an ellipsoid flattened at the poles. [1880 85; < Gk… … Universalium
mathematics — /math euh mat iks/, n. 1. (used with a sing. v.) the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically. 2. (used with a sing. or pl. v.) mathematical procedures,… … Universalium
