METAL n. 2 definitions
An elementary substance, as sodium, calcium, or copper, whose oxide or hydroxide has basic rather than acid properties, as contrasted with the nonmetals, or metalloids. No sharp line can be drawn between the metals and nonmetals, and certain elements partake of both acid and basic qualities, as chromium, manganese, bis…
MILK n.
ch are shed and replaced by the premolars. -- Milk of lime (Chem.), a watery emulsion of calcium hydrate, produced by macerating quicklime in water. -- Milk parsley (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant (Peucedanum palustre) of Europe and Asia, having a milky juice. -- Milk pea (Bot.), a genus (Galactia) of leguminous and,…
OXALIC a.
xisting combined in oxalis as an acid potassium oxalate, and in many plant tissues as the calcium oxalate. It is prepared on a large scale, by the action of fused caustic soda or potash on sawdust, as a white crystalline substance, which has a strong acid taste, and is poisonous in large doses. It is used in dyeing, ca…
PLASTER n.
s. Etym: [So called because originally brought from a suburb of Paris.] (Chem.) Anhydrous calcium sulphate, or calcined gypsum, which forms with water a paste which soon sets or hardens, and is used for casts, moldings, etc. The term is loosely applied to any plaster stone or species of gypsum. -- Plaster of Paris ban…
PROPIONIC a.
the distillation of wood, in the fermentation of various organic substances, as glycerin, calcium lactate, etc., and is obtained as a colorless liquid having a sharp, pungent odor. Propionic acid is so called because it is the first or lowest member of the fatty acid series whose salts have a fatty feel.…
PROTOMETALS n.
some stars), obtained at the highest available laboratory temperatures (Lockyer); as protocalcium, protochromium, protocopper, protonickel, protosilicon, protostrontium, prototitanium, protovanadium. -- Pro`to*me*tal"ic (#), a.