CHEMISTRY GLOSSARY

Rayleigh scattering    →   Rayleighovo rasipanje

Rayleigh scattering is the scattering of light by particles which are much smaller than the wavelength of light.

refractive index    →   indeks loma

For a non-absorbing medium, refractive index (n) is the ratio of the velocity of electromagnetic radiation (light) in vacuum to the phase velocity of radiation of a specified frequency in the medium.

spectrophotometry    →   spektrofotometrija

Spectrophotometry is a determination of the concentration of a material in a sample by measurement of the amount of light the sample absorbs.

glucose    →   glukoza

Glucose (grape sugar, blood sugar), C₆H₁₂O₆, is an aldohexose (a monosaccharide sugar having six carbon atoms and an aldehyde group). An older common name for glucose is dextrose, after its dextrorotatory property of rotating plane polarized light to the right. Glucose in free (in sweet fruits and honey) or combined form (sucrose, starch, cellulose, glycogen) is is probably the most abundant organic compound in nature. During the photosynthesis process, plants use energy from the sun, water from the soil and carbon dioxide gas from the air to make glucose. In cellular respiration, glucose is ultimately broken down to yield carbon dioxide and water, and the energy from this process is stored as ATP molecules (36 molecules of ATP across all processes).

Naturally occurring glucose is D isomers (OH group on the stereogenic carbon farthest from the aldehyde group, C-5, is to the right in the Fischer projection). Although often displayed as an open chain structure, glucose and most common sugars exist as ring structures. In the α form, the hydroxyl group attached to C-1 and the CH₂OH attached to C-5 are located on opposite sides of the ring. β-glucose has these two groups on the same side of the ring. The full names for these two anomers of glucose are α-D-glucopyranose and β-D-glucopyranose.

Kirchoff, Gustav    →   Kirchoff, Gustav

Gustav Kirchoff (1824-1887) was a German physicist who, with the chemist Robert Bunsen (1811-1899), laid the foundations of spectral analysis. He realized that the Fraunhofer lines in the Sun's spectrum were due to light from the photosphere being absorbed at those specific wavelengths by elements in the solar atmosphere. He also found that incandescent solids, liquids, and compressed gases emit a continuous spectrum. Use of the Bunsen burner in conjunction with a glass prism led to the development of the spectroscope in collaboration with the Bunsen and to the spectroscopic discovery of the elements rubidium (1860) and cesium (1861).

spectroscope    →   spektroskop

Spectroscope (spectrometer) is an instrument for measuring the spectrum of light or radiation

spectroscopy    →   spektroskopija

Spectroscopy is the analysis of the lines of light emitted from excited atoms as the electrons drop back through their orbitals. These lines give the energy and distances of the electronic orbitals.

transmittance    →   transmitancija

Transmittance (τ) is the ratio of the radiant or luminous flux at a given wavelength that is transmitted to that of the incident radiation. Also called transmission factor.

Tyndall’s effect    →   Tyndallov efekt

Tyndall’s effect occurs when light disperses on colloid particles. This phenomenon can be seen when a ray of light enters in dark room through a small hole. In the beam some dust particles of colloid dimensions can be seen sparkling.

Gratzel solar cell    →   Gratzelova sunčeva ćelija

Grätzel solar cell is photoelectrochemical cell, developed by Michael Grätzel and collaborators, simulates some characteristics of the natural solar cell, which enables photosynthesis take place. In natural solar cell the chlorophyll molecules absorb light (most strongly in the red and blue parts of the spectrum, leaving the green light to be reflected). The absorbed energy is sufficient to knock an electron from the excited chlorophyll. In the further transport of electron, other molecules are involved, which take the electron away from chlorophyll. In Grätzel cell, the tasks of charge-carrier generation and transport are also assigned to different species.

His device consists of an array of nanometre-sized crystallites of the semiconductor titanium dioxide, welded together and coated with light-sensitive molecules that can transfer electrons to the semiconductor particles when they absorb photons. So, light-sensitive molecules play a role equivalent to chlorophyll in photosynthesis. In Grätzel cell, the light-sensitive molecule is a ruthenium ion bound to organic bipyridine molecules, which absorb light strongly in the visible range; titanium dioxide nanocrystals carry the received photoexcited electrons away from electron donors. On the other hand, a donor molecule must get back an electron, so that it can absorb another photon. So, this assembly is immersed in a liquid electrolyte containing molecular species (dissolved iodine molecules) that can pick up an electron from an electrode immersed in the solution and ferry it to the donor molecule. These cells can convert sunlight with efficiency of 10 % in direct sunlight and they are even more efficient in diffuse daylight.