CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

liquid crystal    →   tekući kristal

Liquid crystals or crystalline liquids are a physical state between crystals and melts. The liquid crystalline phase - the so-called mesophase - is formed at the melting point. The most important (usable) mesophases are nematic, cholesteric and smectic phase, having different molecular orientations.

London’s force    →   Londonova sila

London’s force is an intermolecular attractive force that arises from a cooperative oscillation of electron clouds on a collection of molecules at close range.

lower flammable limit    →   donja granica zapaljivosti

Lower flammable limit (LEL) or the lower explosive limit is the minimum concentration of vapour or gas in air above which propagation of flame does not occur on contact with a source of ignition. The mixture is said to be too lean.

Gauss’ law for electrostatics    →   Gaussov zakon za elektrostatiku

Gauss’ law describes the relation between charge and electric field in static situations, so it is equivalent to Coulomb’s law, which can be derived from Gauss’ law. Gauss’ law states that the net flux of electric field, Φ, through an imaginary closed surface, S, - a Gaussian surface - is equal to the net charge, q, inside that closed surface:

where electric flux Φ through Gaussian surface is given by:

ε₀ is the permittivity constant and dS is a surface element.

Geiger counter    →   Geigerov brojač

Geiger counter (Geiger-Muller counter) is a device used to detect and measure ionising radiation. It consists of a tube containing a low-pressure gas (usually argon or neon with methane) and a cylindrical hollow cathode through the centre of which runs a fine-wire anode. A potential difference of about 1 000 V is maintained between the electrodes. An ionising particle or photon passing through a window into the tube will cause an ion to be produced and the high potential will accelerate it towards its appropriate electrode, causing an avalanche of further ionisations by collision. The consequent current pulses can be counted in electronic circuits or simply amplified to work a small loudspeaker in the instrument. It was first devised in 1908 by the German physicist Hans Geiger (1882-1945). Geiger and W. Muller produced an improved design in 1928.

germanium    →   germanij

Germanium was discovered by Clemens Winkler (Germany) in 1886. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word Germania meaning Germany. It is greyish-white semi-metal. Unaffected by alkalis and most (except nitric) acids. Stable in air and water. Germanium is obtained from refining copper, zinc and lead. Widely used in semiconductors. It is a good semiconductor when combined with tiny amounts of phosphorus, arsenic, gallium and antimony.

Gibbs phase rule    →   Gibbsov zakon faza

Gibbs phase rule is the relationship used to determine the number of state variables, usually chosen from among temperature, pressure, and species composition in each phase, which must be specified to fix the thermodynamic state of a system in equilibrium:

where C is the number of components in a mixture, P is the number of phases, and F is the degrees of freedom, i.e., the number of intensive variables that can be changed independently without affecting the number of phases.

LPG    →   LPG

LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) is a mixture of short hydrocarbons with most of the volume being propane and butane. LPG is considered an alternative fuel that burns cleaner than petrol.

lumen    →   lumen

Lumen (lm) is the SI derived unit of luminous flux. The lumen is the luminous flux emitted in a solid angle of one steradian by a point source having a uniform intensity of one candela (1 lm =1 cd·sr).

luminous flux    →   svjetlosni tok

Luminous flux (Φ) is the intensity of light from a source multiplied by the solid angle. The SI unit is lumen.