CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

silicon    →   silicij

Silicon was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius (Sweden) in 1824. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word silicis meaning flint. Amorphous form of silicon is brown powder; crystalline form has grey metallic appearance. Solid form unreactive with oxygen, water and most acids. Dissolves in hot alkali. Silica dust is a moderately toxic acute irritant. Silicon makes up major portion of clay, granite, quartz and sand. Commercial production depends on a reaction between sand (SiO₂) and carbon at a temperature of around 2200 °C. Used in glass as silicon dioxide (SiO₂). Silicon carbide (SiC) is one of the hardest substances known and used in polishing. Also the crystalline form is used in semiconductors.

silver    →   srebro

Silver has been known since ancient times. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word argentum meaning silver. It is silvery-ductile and malleable metal. Stable in water and oxygen. Reacts with sulfur compounds to form black sulfides. Silver is found in ores called argentite (AgS), light ruby silver (Ag₃AsS₃), dark ruby silver (Ag₃SbS₃) and brittle silver. Used in alloys for jewellery and in other compounds for photography. It is also a good conductor, but expensive.

simple cubic lattice    →   jednostavna kubična rešetka

Simple or primitive cubic lattice (sc or cubic-P) has one lattice point at the each corner of the unit cell. It has unit cell vectors a = b = c and interaxial angels α=β=γ=90°.

The simplest crystal structures are those in which there is only a single atom at each lattice point. In the sc structures the spheres fill 52 % of the volume. The number of atoms in a unit cell is one (8×1/8 = 1). This is only one metal (α-polonium) that have the sc lattice.

silver/silver-chloride electrode    →   srebro/srebrov klorid elektroda

Silver/silver-chloride electrode is by far the most common reference type used today because it is simple, inexpensive, very stable and non-toxic. It is mainly used with saturated potassium chloride electrolyte, but can be used with lower concentrations such as 3.5 mol dm^-3 or 1 mol dm^-3 potassium chloride. Silver/silver-chloride electrode is a referent electrode based on the following halfreaction

simple magnifier    →   lupa

Simple magnifier is a converging lens, placed between the object and the eye, with the object inside the focal length of the lens. The angular magnification of a simple magnifier is:

where f is the focal length of the lens and 15 cm is the near point distance for a normal eye. The image of the object is virtual, which means that the rays do not actually pass through the point of intersection, that is, it can not be seen on a screen.

Snell’s law    →   Snellov zakon

When a light ray comes on a boundary between two transparent media, it will be partly reflected and partly refracted. Both rays, reflected and refracted ray, lay in the plane of incidence. The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The angle of refraction (Θ₂) is related to the angle of incidence (Θ₁) via Snell’s law:

where n₁ and n₂ are dimensionless constants - indexes of refraction of the two media.

sodium    →   natrij

Sodium was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy (England) in 1807. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word natrium meaning sodium carbonate. It is soft silvery-white metal. Fresh surfaces oxidize rapidly. Reacts vigorously, even violently with water. Reacts with water to give off flammable gas. Burns in air with a brilliant white flame. Sodium is obtained by electrolysis of melted sodium chloride (salt), borax and cryolite. Metallic sodium is vital in the manufacture of organic compounds. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is table salt. Liquid sodium is used to cool nuclear reactors.

sol    →   sol

Sols are dispersions of small solid particles in a liquid. The particles may be macromolecules or may be clusters of small molecules. Lyophobic sols are those in which there is no affinity between the dispersed phase and the liquid (e.g. silver chloride dispersed in water). Lyophobic sols are inherently unstable, in time the particles aggregate, and form a precipitate. Lyiophilic sols, on the other hand, are more like true solutions in which the solute molecules are large and have an affinity for the solvent (e.g. starch in water). Association colloids are systems in which the dispersed phase consists of clusters of molecules that have lyophobic and lyophilic parts (e.g. soap in water).

solubility    →   topljivost

Solubility is the maximum amount of solute that dissolves in a given quantity of solvent at a specific temperature. Generally, for a solid in a liquid, solubility increases with temperature; for a gas, solubility decreases. Common measures of solubility include the mass of solute per unit mass of solution (mass fraction), mole fraction of solute, molality, molarity, and others.

sp3 hybrid orbital    →   sp3 hibridna orbitala

An sp³ hybrid orbital is an orbital formed by the linear combination of one s and three p orbitals of comparable energy (such 2s and 2p orbitals) on a same atom. The four sp³ hybrid orbitals point toward the corners of a regular tetrahedron with the bond angle of 109.5°.