CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

Dewar flask    →   Dewarova posuda

Dewar flask or vacuum bottle is a container for storing hot or cold substances. It consists of two flasks, one placed inside the other, with a vacuum between. The vacuum prevents the conduction of heat from one flask to the other. For greater efficiency the flasks are silvered to reflect heat. The substance to be kept hot or cold, e.g., liquid air, is contained in the inner flask. The flask is named after British chemist and physicist Sir James Dewar (1842-1923). Dewar invented the Dewar flask in 1892 to aid him in his work with liquid gases. The common thermos bottle is an adaptation of the Dewar flask.

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

joule    →   džul

Joule (J) is the SI derived unit of energy, work, and heat. The joule is the work done when the point of application of a force of one newton is displaced a distance of one metre in the direction of the force (J = N m). The unit was named after the British scientist James Prescott Joule (1818-1889).

Lewis number    →   Lewisova značajka

Lewis number (Le) is a dimensionless quantity used in fluid mechanics, defined by

where a is thermal diffusivity and D is diffusion coefficient.

electric cell    →   električni članak

Electric cell (battery) is a device that is capable of changing some form of energy, such as chemical, nuclear or radiant energy, into electricity. A solar cell, for example, consists of a semiconductor junction that converts sunlight directly into electricity. A dry cell battery converts chemical energy into electricity.

electron    →   elektron

The electron is an elementary particle with a negative electric charge of (1.602 189 2±0.000 004 6)×10^-19 C and a mass of 1/1837 that of a proton, equivalent to (9.109 534±0.000 047)×10^-31 kg.

In 1897 the British physicist Joseph John (J.J.) Thomson (1856-1940) discovered the electron in a series of experiments designed to study the nature of electric discharge in a high-vacuum cathode-ray tube. Thomson interpreted the deflection of the rays by electrically charged plates and magnets as evidence of bodies much smaller than atoms that he calculated as having a very large value for the charge to mass ratio. Later he estimated the value of the charge itself.

Electrons are arranged in from one to seven shells around the nucleus; the maximum number of electrons in each shell is strictly limited by the laws of physics (2n²). The outer shells are not always filled: sodium has two electrons in the first shell (2×1² = 2), eight in the second (2×2² = 8), and only one in the third (2×3² = 18). A single electron in the outer shell may be attracted into an incomplete shell of another element, leaving the original atom with a net positive charge. Valence electrons are those that can be captured by or shared with another atom.

Electrons can be removed from the atoms by heat, light, electric energy, or bombardment with high-energy particles. Decaying radioactive nuclei spontaneously emit free electrons, called β particles.

molar enthalpy of evaporation    →   molarna entalpija isparavanja

Molar enthalpy of evaporation (Δ_l ^gH) is a change of enthalpy during evaporation divided by molarity of a liquid, and is equal to the heat energy spent when the evaporation is conducted under constant pressure, Δ_l ^gH=Q.

molar quantity    →   molarna veličina

Molar quantity is often convenient to express an extensive quantity (e.g., volume, enthalpy, heat capacity, etc.) as the actual value divided by the amount of substance (number of moles). The resulting quantity is called molar volume, molar enthalpy, etc.

Peltier effect    →   Peltierov efekt

Peltier effect is the absorption or generation of heat (depending on the current direction) which occurs when an electric current is passed through a junction between two materials.

purification    →   pročišćavanje

Purification is the physical or chemical process of removing contaminants from a compound. The physical processes may include sublimation, distillation, filtration, crystallisation, or extraction. The chemical processes may involve formation of a derivative, purification of the derivative and recovery of the original material in a pure form of the derivative.