CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

muriatic acid    →   murijatična kiselina

Muriatic acid is an obsolete name for hydrochloric acid (HCl). Lavoisier coined the name from the Latin word muria meaning brine.

electrodialysis    →   elektrodijaliza

Electrodialysis is a procedure of dialysis accelerated with an electric field. Dialyser is divided into three sections. Solution flows through the middle section, between two semipermeable membranes alternately to positive ions and negative ions. An electrodes are placed in the neighbouring sections. Under the influence of electric field, positive ions will travel towards the cathode (the negative electrode), and negative ions towards the anode (the positive electrode), whereby travelling of ions through the membrane is accelerated. In this way, the feed water is separated into two streams: one of pure water and the other of more concentrated solution.

reverse osmosis    →   reverzna osmoza

Reverse osmosis is the method used for obtaining freshwater from saltwater. The process uses a semi-permeable membrane through which pure water and not the salts will pass. The saltwater must be pressurised to approximately 25 bar, which makes it operationally expensive to produce large quantities of fresh water by this method.

Knudsen burette    →   Knudsenova bireta

Knudsen's automatic bulb-burette, developed by the Danish physicist Martin Knudsen (1871-1949), is designed in a way that even routine field analysis in a boat laboratory would provide highly accurate measurements. The burette is filled with a mixture of silver nitrate from reservoir R, located above the burette, by opening the A valve. When the solution crosses the three-way C valve the A valve is closed preventing further solution flow in to the burette. Any extra solution is caught in the W bowl. Turn the C valve, which marks the zero on the scale, in order to allow atmospheric air to enter the burette. Since most open-ocean samples lie in a relatively small chlorinity range, the burette is designed so that much of its capacity is in the bulb (B). This allows the titration to be quick (by quickly releasing contents from the B area) and reduces the error that occurs from the slow drainage along the inner wall of the burette.

Each millimeter is divided in to twenty parts (double millimeter division of the Knudsen burette) which allows for highly accurate measurements (the scale is read up to a precision of 0.005 mL). From 0 to 16 the burette isn't divided, that usually starts from 16 and goes until 20.5 or 21.5. A single double millimeter on a Knudsen burette scale corresponds to one permille of chloride in the seawater sample. This burette can be used for titration of water from all of the oceans and seas, with the exemptions being areas with very low salinity (e.g. the Baltic Sea) and river estuaries which require the use of normal burettes.

practical salinity    →   praktični salinitet

Practical salinity S_P is defined on the Practical Salinity Scale of 1978 (PSS-78) in terms of the conductivity ratio K₁₅ which is the electrical conductivity of the sample at temperature t₆₈ = 15 °C and pressure equal to one standard atmosphere, divided by the conductivity of a standard potassium chloride (KCl) solution at the same temperature and pressure. The mass fraction of KCl in the standard solution is 0.0324356 (32.4356 g of KCl in 1 kg of solution). When K₁₅ = 1, the Practical Salinity P S is by definition 35. The conductivity of that reference solution is C(35,1568,0) = 42.914 mS/cm = 4.2914 S/m (Siemens per meter). Note that Practical Salinity is a unit-less quantity. Though sometimes convenient, it is technically incorrect to quote Practical Salinity in "psu". When K₁₅ is not unity, S_P and K₁₅ are related by the PSS-78 equation

At a temperature of t₆₈ = 15 °C, R_t is simply K₁₅ and Practical Salinity S_P can be determined from the above equation. For temperatures other than t₆₈ = 15 °C, Practical Salinity S_P is given by the following function of R_t (k = 0.0162)

rhenium    →   renij

Rhenium was discovered by Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke and Otto Berg (Germany) in 1925. The origin of the name comes from the Latin word Rhenus meaning river Rhine. It is rare and costly, dense, silvery-white metal. Tarnishes in moist air. Resists corrosion and oxidation. Dissolves in nitric and sulfuric acids. Has a very high melting point. Rhenium is found in small amounts in gadolinite and molybdenite. Mixed with tungsten or platinum to make filaments for mass spectrographs. Its main value is as a trace alloying agent for hardening metal components that are subjected to continuous frictional forces.

salinity    →   salinitet

Salinity (S) is a measure of the quantity of dissolved salts in seawater. It is formally defined as the total amount of dissolved solids in seawater in parts per thousand (‰) by weight when all the carbonate has been converted to oxide, the bromide and iodide to chloride, and all organic matter is completely oxidized.

Chlorinity is the oldest of the salinity measures considered and is still a corner-stone in the study of dissolved material in seawater. Based on the principle of constant relative proportions it provides a measure of the total amount of dissolved material in seawater in terms of the concentration of halides. The relationship between chlorinity (Cl) and salinity as set forth in Knudsen’s tables is

In 1962, however, a better expression for the relationship between total dissolved salts and chlorinity was found to be

Practical Salinity (S_P) was introduced as a replacement for Chlorinity. Practical Salinity is is relatively easy to measure using standard conductometers, measurements are more precise and less time consuming than measurements of Chlorinity and accurate measurements can even be made in situ. Practical salinity S_P is defined on the Practical Salinity Scale of 1978 (PSS-78) in terms of the conductivity ratio K₁₅ which is the electrical conductivity of the sample at temperature t₆₈ = 15 °C and pressure equal to one standard atmosphere, divided by the conductivity of a standard potassium chloride (KCl) solution at the same temperature and pressure. The mass fraction of KCl in the standard solution is 0.0324356 (32.4356 g of KCl in 1 kg of solution).

Note that Practical Salinity is a unit-less quantity. Though sometimes convenient, it is technically incorrect to quote Practical Salinity in "psu". For most purposes one can assume that the psu and the ‰, are synonymous.

The global average salinity of ocean waters is about 35 ‰, that is, about 35 g of solid substances are dissolved in 1 kg of seawater.

seawater    →   more

Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5 % water, 3.5 % salts, and smaller amounts of other substances, including dissolved inorganic and organic materials, particulates, and a few atmospheric gases. The world's oceans cover nearly 71 % (361 840 000 km²) of the Earth's surface (510 100 000 km²), with an average depth of 3 682.2 m.

The density of seawater is higher than that of fresh water because of its higher salinity. Seawater's freezing point is lower than that of pure water and its boiling point is higher. The average salinity of the ocean is 35 ‰, which means that for every kilograms of water, there are 35 g of salt. The relative abundance of the major salts in seawater are constant regardless of the ocean. Only six elements and compounds comprise about 99 % of sea salts: chlorine (Cl^-), sodium (Na⁺), sulfur (SO₄^2-), magnesium (Mg²⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), and potassium (K⁺).

voltaic pile    →   Voltin stup

Voltaic pile was the first device that produced a continuous electric current. The first piles constructed by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) in 1800 comprised alternating silver and zinc discs separated by cardboard soaked in brine. The pile can be stacked as high as you like, and each layer will increase the voltage by a fixed amount.

absolute temperature    →   apsolutna temperatura

Absolute temperature denoting a temperature measured on the absolute scale, a scale of temperature based on absolute zero as the lowest temperature.