CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

Contat-Gockel’s valve    →   Contat-Gockelov ventil

Contat-Göckel’s valve is used for maintenance of inert atmosphere in a flask. The valve is filled with a saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) so that the end of the tube is covered. Solution inside the valve keeps the flask contents away from the oxygen influence from air. If low pressure is created inside the flask (when the flask is cooled), the solution will penetrate inside it from funnel and in a reaction with acid CO₂ is generated which fills up the flask.

Solution from the funnel will keep penetrating until CO₂ pressure in the flask is equalised with the outer pressure.

contaminant    →   kontaminat

Contaminants are any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water that may be harmful to human health or which degrade the palatability of water.

contact procedure    →   kontaktni postupak

Contact procedure is an industrial procedure used for the production of sulphuric acid, where a dry and clean sulphur dioxide and air go over a catalyst made of vanadium pentoxide at 450 °C by which sulphur trioxide is gained, then we add concentrated sulphuric acid by which we obtain smoking sulphuric acid which is now diluted to sulphuric acid.

adsorption    →   adsorpcija

Adsorption is a process in which molecules of gas, of dissolved substances in liquids, or of liquids adheres in an extremely thin layer to surfaces of solid bodies with which they are in contact.

air stripping    →   zračni striping

Air stripping is a process for the removal of volatile organic contaminants from groundwater. The groundwater flows downward inside a tower filled with materials (the packing) over a large surface area. Air is introduced at the bottom of the tower and is forced upward past the falling water. The volatiles evaporate from the water and are collected in air filters or released to the atmosphere.

Allihn condenser    →   Allihnovo hladilo

Allihn condenser or bulb condenser consists of an outer water jacket and the inner glass tube with a series of spherical bubbles to maximize the thermal contact with the cooling water. It is named after its inventor, the German chemist Felix Richard Allihn (1854-1915).

barometer    →   barometar

Barometer is an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure. A mercury barometer is a closed tube filled with mercury inverted in a mercury reservoir. The height of the mercury column indicates atmospheric pressure (with 1 atm = 760 mm of mercury). An aneroid barometer consists of an evacuated container with a flexible wall. When atmospheric pressure changes, the wall flexes and moves a pointer which indicates the changing pressure on a scale.

battery    →   baterija

Battery a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy. The process underlying the operation of a battery involves a chemical reaction in which electrons are transferred from one chemical species to another. This process is carried out in two half-reactions, one that involves the loss of electrons and one that involves their gain. The battery is an electrochemical cell divided in two half-cells, and reaction proceeds when these are connected together by an electrically conducting pathway. The passage of electrons from one half-cell to the other corresponds to an electric current. Each half-cell contains an electrode in contact with the reacting species. The electrode which passes electrons into the circuit when battery discharges is called anode and is negative terminal. The electrode which receives electrons is called cathode, and is the battery’s positive terminal. The electrical circuit is completed by an electrolyte, an electrically conducting substance placed between the two electrodes which carriers a flow of charge between them. In wet cells, the electrolyte is a liquid containing dissolved ions, whose motion generates an electrical current; in dry cells the electrolyte is basely solid, for example, a solid with mobile ions or porous solid saturated with an ionic solution.

carbon dating    →   određivanje starosti radioaktivnim ugljikom

Carbon dating is used to the time passed since a living organism died. It is based on measuring the quantity of isotope of carbon-14 that is contained in all living organisms.

bomb calorimeter    →   kalorimetrijska bomba

Bomb calorimeter is a type of constant-volume calorimeter used in measuring the heat of combustion of samples which can be burned in oxygen. Four essential parts are required in any bomb calorimeter:

1. a bomb or vessel in which the combustible charges can be burned,
2. a bucket or container for holding the bomb in a measured quantity of water, together with a stirring mechanism,
3. an insulating jacket to protect the bucket from transient thermal stresses during the combustion process, and
4. a thermometer or other sensor for measuring temperature changes within the bucket.