Shock absorber, device for reducing the effect of a sudden shock by the dissipation of the shock's energy. On an automobile, springs and shock absorbers are mounted between the wheels and the ...

Electric shock, effect of the passage of a current of electricity through the body. Fatality may result from shocks of from 1 to 2 amperes and 500 to 1,000 volts. However, the effect of electr...

Shock wave, wave formed of a zone of extremely high pressure within a fluid, especially the atmosphere, that propagates through the fluid at a speed in excess of the speed of sound. A shock wa...

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS). acute, sometimes fatal, disease characterized by high fever, nausea, diarrhea, lethargy, blotchy rash, and sudden drop in blood pressure. It is caused by Staphyloco...

Defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an org...

Schiaparelli, Elsa, 1890–1973, French fashion designer, b. Rome. She established a house of couture in Paris that existed from the late 1920s until 1954, and established a New York showroom in...

Palpitation, abnormal heartbeat that is often associated with a sensation of fluttering or thumping. The normal heartbeat is not noticeable to the individual. Palpitation may be a symptom of o...

Crile, George Washington, 1864–1943, American surgeon, b. Coshocton co., Ohio, M.D. Univ. of Wooster medical school (later merged with Western Reserve Univ.), 1887. He taught at the Univ. of W...

Electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatry, treatment of mood disorders by means of electricity; the broader term shock therapy also includes the use of chemical agents. The therapeutic possibili...

Sonic boom, shock wave produced by an object moving through the air at supersonic speed, i.e., faster than the speed of sound. Since sound is a mechanical disturbance that propagates through t...