CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

fatty acid    →   masna kiselina

Fatty acids are aliphatic monocarboxylic acids characterized by a terminal carboxyl group (R-COOH). The higher members of this series of acids occur in nature in the combined form of esters of glycerol (fats), and hence all acids of this family are called fatty acids. Natural fatty acids commonly have a chain of 4 to 28 carbons (usually unbranched and even-numbered), which may be saturated or unsaturated. The most important of saturated fatty acids are butyric (C4), lauric (C12), palmitic (C16), and stearic (C18). The most common unsaturated acids are oleic, linoleic, and linolenic (all C18).

The physical properties of fatty acids are determined by the chain length, degree of unsaturation, and chain branching. Short-chain acids are pungent liquids, soluble in water. As the chain length increases, melting points are raised and water-solubility decreases. Unsaturation and chain branching tend to lower melting points.

fractional distillation    →   frakcijska destilacija

Fractional distillation is a procedure in which liquids of close boiling points are separated. It is conducted in fraction or rectification columns in a way that vapour phase created by distillation is condensed and the condensate thus obtained is redistilled. The procedure is repeated several times. Vapour phase always contains more volatile component than the liquid phase, at top of the column vapour of clean volatile component gets out and at the bottom of the column liquid of nonvolatile component.

fuel cell    →   gorivi članak

Fuel cell is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. It is different from a battery in that the energy conversion continues as long as fuel and oxidising agent are fed to the fuel cell; that is, in principle indefinitely. (A battery is manufactured with a limited amount of chemicals, and it is exhausted when all the chemicals have reacted.) It is a galvanic cell where spontaneous chemical reactions occur at the electrodes. The fuel is oxidised at the anode, and the oxidising agent (almost always oxygen or air) is reduced at the cathode. Presently, the most commonly used fuel is hydrogen. More conventional fuels (e.g., petrol or natural gas) must be converted (reformed) into hydrogen before they can be utilised in a fuel cell.

Some fuel cells employ an aqueous solution as electrolyte, that can be either acidic or basic (alkaline), or an ion-exchange membrane soaked in aqueous solution can act as the electrolyte. These fuel cells operate at relatively low temperatures (from room temperature to not much above the boiling point of water). Some fuel cells employ molten salts (especially carbonates) as electrolytes and have to operate at temperatures of several hundred degrees centigrade (Celsius). Others employ ionically conductive solids as electrolyte and must operate close to 1 000 °C.

fume hood    →   digestor

Fume hood is a type of local exhaust ventilation system (engineering control). A typical fume hood is cabinet with a moveable front sash (window) made out of safety glass. Air is drawn into the hood under and through the opened sash and is exhausted through openings in the rear and top of the cabinet to a remote point such as an exhaust stack on the roof of the building. A properly used and properly functioning fume hood exhausts hazardous gases, dusts, mists, and vapors from a confined location and helps protect workers from inhalation exposure.

glycogen    →   glikogen

Glycogen (animal starch) is a polysaccharide that serves the same energy storage function in animals that starch serves in plants. Dietary carbohydrates not needed for immediate energy are converted by the body to glycogen for long term storage (principally in muscle and liver cells). Like amylopectin found in starch, glycogen is a polymer of α(1→4)-linked subunits of glucose, with α(1→6)-linked branches. Glycogen molecules are larger than those of amylopectin (up to 100 000 glucose units) and contain even more branches. Branch points occur about every 10 residues in glycogen and about every 25 residues in amylopectin. The branching also creates lots of ends for enzyme attack and provides for rapid release of glucose when it is needed.

heavy water    →   teška voda

Water molecules are composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H₂O). If the hydrogen atoms of a water molecule are replaced by deuterium atoms, the result is heavy water (D₂O). Deuterium differs from hydrogen by having one neutron in the nucleus of the atom. There is approx. one part in 5000 D₂O in normal water and it can be concentrated by electrolysis. Heavy water has a higher boiling point (101.4 °C) and melts at 3.6 °C. Heavy water is 20/18=1.11 times heavier than ordinary water.

refractory metal    →   vatrostalni metal

Refractory metal is a metal having an extremely high melting point, for example tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and rhenium

superconductivity    →   supravodljivost

Superconductivity is the phenomenon in which certain metals, alloys, and compounds below a certain temperature, the transition point (T_c), lose electrical resistance and magnetic permeability, i.e. have infinite electrical conductivity (Meissner effect and Josephson effect).

supercooled liquid    →   pothlađena tekućina

Supercooled liquids are liquids at temperatures below their normal freezing points.

terminal    →   terminalni

Terminal in chemistry means: the end of a polymer molecule and a point at which electron connections can easily be made or broken.