CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

Haber, Fritz    →   Haber, Fritz

Fritz Haber (1868-1934) is German physical chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1918) for his development of a method of synthesizing ammonia. With Carl Bosch, he invented a process for the large-scale production of ammonia for use in nitrogen fertilizer.

inhibitor    →   inhibitor

Inhibitor is a chemical that stops (or at least decreases the rate of) a chemical reaction.

dioxin    →   dioksin

Dioxin is a general term that describes a group of hundreds of chemicals that are highly persistent in the environment. The most toxic compound is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD. The toxicity of other dioxins and chemicals like PCBs that act like dioxin are measured in relation to TCDD. Dioxin is formed as an unintentional by-product of many industrial processes involving chlorine such as waste incineration, chemical and pesticide manufacturing and pulp and paper bleaching. Dioxin was the primary toxic component of Agent Orange, found at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY and was the basis for evacuations at Times Beach, MO and Seveso, Italy.

Dioxin is formed by burning chlorine-based chemical compounds with hydrocarbons. The major source of dioxin in the environment comes from waste-burning incinerators of various sorts and also from backyard burn-barrels. Dioxin pollution is also affiliated with paper mills which use chlorine bleaching in their process, with the production of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastics, and with the production of certain chlorinated chemicals (like many pesticides).

dissociation    →   disocijacija

Dissociation is the process by which a chemical combination breaks up into simpler constituents as a result of either added energy (dissociated by heat), or the effect of a solvent on a dissolved polar compound (electrolytic dissociation). It may occur in the gaseous, solid, or liquid state, or in a solution.

An example of dissociation is the reversible reaction of hydrogen iodide at high temperatures

The term dissociation is also applied to ionisation reactions of acids and bases in water. For example

which is often regarded as a straightforward dissociation into ions

irreversible galvanic cell    →   nepovrativi galvanski članak

Irreversible galvanic cell is a chemical source of direct current, in which reactions that take place on the electrodes are irreversible.

isomorphism    →   izomorfija

Isomorphism is the existence of two or more substances that have the same crystal structure, so that they form solid solutions.

isotone    →   izoton

Isotones are nuclides having the same neutron number N but different atomic number Z.

isotope    →   izotop

Isotopes are two or more nuclides with the same atomic number Z but different mass number A. The term is sometimes used synonymously with nuclide, but it is preferable to reserve the word nuclide for a species of specific Z and A.

IUPAC    →   IUPAC

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is a non-governmental organization of member countries that encompasses more than 85% of the world’s chemical sciences and industries. It was formed in 1919 with the object of facilitating international agreement and uniform practice in both academic and industrial aspects of chemistry.

distilled water    →   destilirana voda

Distilled water is water purified by distillation so as to free it from dissolved salts and other compounds. Distilled water in equilibrium with the carbon dioxide in the air has conductivity of about 0.8×10^-6 S cm^-1. Repeated distillation in vacuum can bring conductivity down to 0.043×10^-6 S cm^-1 at 18 °C. The limiting conductivity is due to self ionisation