SALT n.
eak base, is an acid salt in this sense, though theoretically it is a neutral salt. -- Alkaline salt (Chem.), a salt which gives an alkaline reaction, as sodium carbonate. -- Amphid salt (Old Chem.), a salt of the oxy type, formerly regarded as composed of two oxides, an acid and a basic oxide. [Obsolescent] -- Basic…
SOAP n.
ther, and is used as a cleansing agent. Soap is produced by combining fats or oils with alkalies or alkaline earths, usually by boiling, and consists of salts of sodium, potassium, etc., with the fatty acids (oleic, stearic, palmitic, etc.). See the Note below, and cf. Saponification. By extension, any compound of simi…
SODA n.
due or side product in the ordinary Leblanc process of soda manufacture; -- called also alkali waste. -- Soda water, originally, a beverage consisting of a weak solution of sodium bicarbonate, with some acid to cause effervescence; now, in common usage, a beverage consisting of water highly charged with carbon dioxide…
SODIUM n.
A common metallic element of the alkali group, in nature always occuring 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…
SULPHUR n.
f antimonic sulphide, Sb2S5, -- formerly a famous nostrum. -- Sulphur base (Chem.), an alkaline sulphide capable of acting as a base in the formation of sulphur salts according to the old dual theory of salts. [Archaic] -- Sulphur dioxide (Chem.), a colorless gas, SO2, of a pungent, suffocating odor, produced by the b…
VEGETABLE a.
Consisting of, or comprising, plants; as, the vegetable kingdom. Vegetable alkali (Chem.), an alkaloid. -- Vegetable brimstone. (Bot.) See Vegetable sulphur, below. -- Vegetable butter (Bot.), a name of several kinds of concrete vegetable oil; as that produced by the Indian butter tree, the African shea tree, and the…
WASHING n.
filter, etc. -- Washing fluid, a liquid used as a cleanser, and consisting usually of alkaline salts resembling soaps in their action. -- Washing machine, a machine for washing; specifically, a machine for washing clothes. -- Washing soda. (Chem.) See Sodium carbonate, under Sodium. -- Washing stuff, any earthy de…