CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

combustible    →   zapaljiv

The term combustible is often used to describe any material which will burn. However, conditions at which combustion will occur must be defined more accurately, for example a combustible liquid is 37.8 °C but below 93.3 °C. This allows a distinction to be made between combustible materials, which are fairly difficult to ignite, and flammable or highly flammable ones, which are far easier to ignite.

control rod    →   kontrolna šipka

Control rods are rods in a nuclear reactor composed of substances that absorb neutrons (cadmium, hafnium, boron, etc.). These rods regulate the power level of the reactor.

corrosion    →   korozija

Corrosion is a harmful and undesirable construction material consumption by the chemical activity of its surroundings. Corrosion concept refers to metal and nonmetal construction materials, but it is usually used for metals, Corrosion of metal, according to the mechanism process, is divided into chemical (corrosion in nonelectrolytes) and electrochemical (corrosion in electrolytes).

Chemical corrosion appears by direct action of molecule of some element or compound on metal, thus directly creating corrosion products.

Electrochemical corrosion of metals occurs in electrolytes, so reduction of metal atom into free cation appears which by secondary processes gives molecules of compound which are considered a corrosion product.

Curie temperature    →   Curiejeva temperatura

For a ferromagnetic material, Curie temperature or Curie point (T_C) is the critical temperature above which the material becomes paramagnetic. For iron the Curie point is 760 °C and for nickel 356 °C. It was named after the French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906).

heroin    →   heroin

Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is a narcotic compound that is a synthetic derivative of morphine. The compound is easily absorbed by the brain, due to its lipid-like nature, and is used as a sedative and a powerful analgesic. Highly addictive, it is abused by drug users.

impedance    →   impedancija

Impedance is the analogue of the resistance or resistivity when applied to alternating current. That is, it is a measure of a material’s inability to carry the electrical current. In many materials the impedance varies as the frequency of the applied electrical potential changes, due to the properties of the conducting liquid or solid. In electrochemistry, the impedance of the electrodes is also frequency dependent.

isotropy    →   izotropija

Isotropy is the property of molecules and materials of having identical physical properties in all directions.

molar absorption coefficient    →   molarni apsorpcijski koeficijent

Molar absorption coefficient (ε) is the absorption coefficient divided by amount-of-substance concentration of the absorbing material in the sample solution (ε = a/c). The SI unit is m²mol^-1. Also called extinction coefficient, but usually in units of dm³cm^-1mol^-1.

deoxyribonucleic acid    →   dezoksiribonukleinska kiselina

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid with 2-deoxy-D-ribose as the sugar in its nucleotides. DNA contains encoded genetic information, specifically templates for the synthesis of all of an organism’s proteins and enzymes.

DNA was first identified in the 1869 by Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895). In 1953, American biologist James Dewey Watson (1928-) and English physicist Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916–2004) had discovered that DNA occurs in the cell as a double helix, with two long strands of the molecule wound around each other, and further that the chemical structure of the molecule dictates that adenine (A) always aligns or pairs with thymine (T), and cytosine (C) always pairs with guanine (G). It is this base pairing that allows DNA in a cell to copy itself, and transfer its information to a new cell. The diameter of the helix is 2.0 nm and there is a residue on each chain every 0.34 nm in the z direction. The angle between each residue on the same strand is 36°, so that the structure repeats after 10 residues (3.4 nm) on each strand.

diagenesis    →   dijageneza

Diagenesis is the process that turns sediments into sedimentary rocks. The lithification (literally turning into stone) of the sediments is usually accomplished by a cementing agent. How the weight of the overlying material increases the grains closer together, reducing pore space and eliminating some of the contained water. This water may carry mineral components in solution, and these constituents precipitate as new minerals in the pore spaces. This causes cementation, which will then start to bind the individual particles together. Further compaction and burial may cause recrystallization of the minerals to make the rock even harder.