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Not stable; not standing fast or firm; unstable; prone to change or recede from a purpose; mutable; inconstant.

Instability; unstableness.

with cyanic acid, and resembling it in its salts. It is obtained as a colorless, mobile, unstable liquid by the heating cyanuric acid. Called technically carbimide.

ined by the reduction of certain isonitroso compounds of the ketones. In general they are unstable oily substances having a pungent aromatic odor.

Changeable; inconstant; unsettled; unstable; fickle. "Most mutable wishes." Byron.

dden awkening associated with a sensation of terror, occurring in children, esp. those of unstable nervous constitution.

the action of nitric acid on glycerin in the presence of sulphuric acid. It is extremely unstable and terribly explosive. A very dilute solution is used in medicine as a neurotic under the name of glonion. [Written also nitroglycerine.]

action of nitric acid on potassium ferrocyanide (yellow prussiate), as a red crystalline unstable substance. It forms salts called nitroprussides, which give a rich purple color with alkaline subphides.

ious acid (Chem.), an acid derived from osmium, analogous to sulphurous acid, and forming unstable salts. It is a brown amorphous substance.

Wavering; unstable; doubtful. [R.] "A pendulous state of mind." Atterbury.

emanation is a heavy gas, the later products are solids.) These products are regarded as unstable elements, each with an atomic weight a little lower than its predecessor. It is possible that lead is the stable end product. At the same time the light gas helium is formed; it probably consists of the expelled alpha par…

Of, pertaining to, or derived from, saccharone; specifically, designating an unstable acid which is obtained from saccharone (a) by hydration, and forms a well-known series of salts.

To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken. Ring out the grief that saps the mind. Tennyson.

as, silicic acid. Silicic acid (Chem.), an amorphous gelatinous substance, Si(HO)4, very unstable and easily dried to silica, but forming many stable salts; -- called also orthosilicic, or normal silicic, acid.

white crystalline substance, having a hot, bitter taste. When sinapine is isolated it is unstable and undergoes decomposition.

Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle. "The slippery state of kings." Denham.

uring combined, as in common salt, in albite, etc. It is isolated as a soft, waxy, white, unstable metal, so readily oxidized that it combines violently with water, and to be preserved must be kept under petroleum or some similar liquid. Sodium is used combined in many salts, in the free state as a reducer, and as a me…

the case when the center of gravity is below the point or axis of support; -- opposed to unstable equilibrium, in which the body if disturbed does not tend to return to its former position, but to move farther away from it, as in the case of a body supported at a point below the center of gravity. Cf. Neutral equilibr…

acid ethereal salts of hyposulphurous acid; as, methyl sulphinic acid, CH3.SO.OH, a thick unstable liquid.

Of, pertaining to, or designating, an unstable acid, H2S2O3, analogous to sulphuric acid, and formerly called hyposulphurous acid.