Collier's New Encyclopedia

A complete general encyclopedia of 1921 — the world as it was understood just after the Great War, from Aachen to Zwingli, across twelve volumes and six thousand pages.

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Resistance

in electricity, the op position offered by any conductor to the passage of an electric current. For unit of resistance, see OHM. In physics, a power by which motion or a tendency to motion in any body is impeded. If a weight be placed upon a beam which bears it up, the force which does so is the resistance opposed to its further descent.

The resistance of the water, which is of greater specific gravity than a cork, causes the latter to keep the surface instead of sinking to bottom. The resistance of the air impedes the movement of a projectile. In mechanics: Solid of least resistance, solid of such a form as to experience, in moving in a fluid, less resistance than any other solid; having the same base, length, and volume; or, on the other hand, being stationary, to offer the least interruption RESORCIN to the progress of that fluid. In the former case it is the best form for the stem of a ship; in the latter, for the pier of a bridge.

RES JUDICATA, in law, a term meaning that the subject matter of an action has been already decided by a court of competent jurisdiction. A matter so decided cannot again be made a ground of action between the same parties.

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