verb
definition
To separate or break down something into its components; to disintegrate or fragment
definition
To rot, decay or putrefy
Examples of decomposing in a Sentence
It is very unstable, decomposing slowly even at ordinary temperatures.
It is not very stable, water decomposing it into alcohol and the alkaline carbonate.
Of metals not decomposing liquid pure water, only a few dissolve in aqueous caustic potash or soda, with evolution of hydrogen.
The solution, if boiled, deposits its titanic oxide as a hydrate called metatitanic acid, TiO(OH) 21 because it differs in its properties from orthotitanic acid, Ti(OH) 4, obtained by decomposing a solution of the chloride in cold water with alkalis.
It resembles calcium carbide, decomposing rapidly with water, giving acetylene.
Orthophosphoric acid, H3P04, a tribasic acid, is obtained by boiling a solution of the pentoxide in water; by oxidizing, red phosphorus with nitric acid, or yellow phosphorus under the surface of water by bromine or iodine; and also by decomposing a mineral phosphate with sulphuric acid.
As regards its constitution, it has been given at different times the formulae NI 3, NHI 2, NH 2 I, N 2 H 3 I 3, &c., these varying results being due to the impurities in the substance, owing to the different investigators working under unsuitable conditions, and also to the decomposing action of light.
Only one compound of hydrogen and fluorine is known, namely hydrofluoric acid, HF or H 2 F 2, which was first obtained by C. Scheele in 1771 by decomposing fluor-spar with concentrated sulphuric acid, a method still used for the commercial preparation of the aqueous solution of the acid, the mixture being distilled from leaden retorts and the acid stored in leaden or gutta-percha bottles.
It was obtained as a by-product in many chemical reactions, and subsequently used to be extracted from kainite, one of the Stassfurt minerals, but the process is now given up because the salt can be produced cheaply enough from the chloride by decomposing it with sulphuric acid and calcining the residue.
The best soils are the alluvium in the bottom-lands along some of the larger rivers and that of the Blue Grass Region, which is derived from a limestone rich in organic matter (containing phosphorus) and rapidly decomposing.
Iodic Acid, H10 3, can be prepared by dissolving iodine pentoxide in water; by boiling iodine with fuming nitric acid, 61+10HN03= 6H10 3 +10N0+2H 2 O; by decomposing barium iodate with the calculated quantity of sulphuric acid, previously diluted with water, or by suspending iodine in water and passing in chlorine, 12+5C12+ 6H 2 0=2H10 3 +10HC1.
Hydroferrocyanic acid, H 4 Fe(NC)s, is best obtained by decomposing the lead salt with sulphuretted hydrogen under water, or by passing hydrochloric acid gas into a concentrated ether solution of the potassium salt.
The free acid forms dark red deliquescent crystals and is obtained by decomposing the silver salt with hydrochloric acid, or the barium salt with dilute sulphuric acid.
The matter was carefully investigated, and it was found that the sulphate of magnesia in the sea-water has a decomposing action on Portland cements, especially those which contain a large proportion of lime or even of alumina.
Many fossils are mineralized with pyrites, which has evidently been reduced by the action of decomposing organic matter on a solution of ferrous sulphate, or perhaps less directly on ferrous carbonate dissolved in water containing carbonic acid, in the presence of certain sulphates.
Thallous hydroxide, T10H, is most conveniently prepared by decomposing the solution of the sulphate with baryta water.
This acid is also formed by decomposing barium or lead permanganate with dilute sulphuric acid.
The process is carried out either in hand-wrought furnaces,or mechanical furnaces, both called " decomposing " or " salt-cake furnaces."
Lake Xochimilco contains powerful springs, but away from them the water appears dark and muddy, full of suspended fresh and decomposing vegetable matter, teeming with fish, larvae of insects, Daphniae, worms and axolotl.
The reserve, therefore, that it was abstraction and not a decomposing that was in question remained to the admirers of his logic quite nugatory.
Tungsten dioxide, W02, formed on reducing the trioxide by hydrogen at a red heat or a mixture of the trioxide and hydrochloric acid with zinc, or by decomposing the tetrachloride with water, is a brown strongly pyrophoric powder, which must be cooled in hydrogen before being brought into contact with air.
Metatungstic acid, H2W4013.7H20, is obtained by decomposing the barium salt with sulphuric acid or the lead salt with hydrochloric acid.
On boiling gelatinous silica with ammonium polytungstate and evaporating with the occasional addition of ammonia, ammonium silicodecitungstate is obtained as short rhombic prisms. On adding silver nitrate and decomposing the precipitated silver salt with hydrochloric acid, a solution is obtained which on evaporation in a vacuum gives the free acid as a glassy mass.
On the other hand the stability of the known oxygen compounds increases with the atomic weight, thus iodine pentoxide is, at ordinary temperatures, a well-defined crystalline solid, which is only decomposed on heating strongly, whilst chlorine monoxide, chlorine peroxide, and chlorine heptoxide are very unstable, even at ordinary temperatures, decomposing at the slightest shock.
It is extremely unstable, decomposing with extreme violence on the slightest shock or disturbance, or on exposure to sunlight.
Berthollet, and is best prepared by decomposing barium chlorate with the calculated amount of dilute sulphuric acid.
The heat produced by friction, when moderate in amount, is useful in softening and liquefying thick unguents; but when excessive it is prejudicial, by decomposing the unguents, and sometimes even by softening the metal of the bearings, and raising their temperature so high as to set fire to neighboring combustible matters.
Cu2S5, Cu 2 S 6, Cu4S5, Cu 2 S 3, have been described; they are all unstable, decomposing into cupric sulphide and sulphur.
Barium bromide is prepared by saturating baryta-water or by decomposing barium carbonate with hydrobromic acid.
Barium bromate, Ba(Br03)2, can be prepared by the action of excess of bromine on barytawater, or by decomposing a boiling aqueous solution of loo parts of potassium bromate with a similar solution of 74 parts of crystallized barium chloride.
Antimony trioxide occurs as the minerals valentinite and senarmontite, and can be artificially prepared by burning antimony in air; by heating the metal in steam to a bright red heat; by oxidizing melted antimony with litharge; by decomposing antimony trichloride with an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate, or by the action of dilute nitric acid on the metal.
Antimony nentasulphide, Sb2S5, is prepared by precipitating a solution of the pentachloride with sulphuretted hydrogen, by decomposing "Schlippe's salt" with an acid, or by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into water containing antimonic acid.
China clay from the decomposing granites; tin and copper ore, once abounding at the contacts between the granite and the rocks it pierced, were the former staples of wealth, and the mining largely accounts for the exceptional density of population in Cornwall.
The acid may be prepared by evaporating in a vacuum the solution obtained by decomposing the barium salt with the equivalent amount of sulphuric acid.
This is the solitary record of his youth; we hear nothing more till, in his twenty-ninth year, it is related that, driving to his pleasure-grounds one day, he was struck by the sight of a man utterly broken down by age, on another occasion by the sight of a man suffering from a loathsome disease, and some months after by the horrible sight of a decomposing corpse.
The supply of the nitric acid required to make up this loss is obtained in England by "potting" that is, by decomposing solid nitrate of soda by sulphuric acid in a flue between the pyrites burners and the chambers.
To Laromiguiere he attributes the lesson of decomposing thought, even though the reduction of it to sensation was inadequate.
Enriching the gas by vapours and permanent gases obtained by decomposing the tar formed at the same time as the gas.
Mixing with the coal gas oil gas, obtained by decomposing crude oils by heat.
Primary alcohols are obtained by decomposing their sulphuric acid esters (from sulphuric acid and the olefines) with boiling water; by the action of nitrous acid on primary amines; or by the reduction of aldehydes, acid chlorides or acid anhydrides.
The various decomposing volcanic rocks - tufas, conglomerates and basalts - mingled with decayed vegetable matter, and abundantly watered, form a very fertile soil.
It is a somewhat unstable substance, decomposing on being heated, with liberation of hydrogen.
Arsenic trihydride (arsine or arseniuretted hydrogen), AsH3, is formed by decomposing zinc arsenide with dilute sulphuric acid; by the action of nascent hydrogen on arsenious compounds, and by the electrolysis of solutions of arsenious and arsenic acids; it is also a product of the action of organic matter on many arsenic compounds.
These deposits are tenanted by numerous forms of marine life, and the sulphur they contain is derived from decomposing organic matter.
The decomposing carcass drifted to Greenodd Sands where it was photographed by Andy Harmer on 13 October 2001.
Fungi play a vital role in decomposing dead material and recycling the nutrients to make them available for the growth of other plants.
It may be that they procure it from decomposing organic matter in the soil, or they may get it by absorption from other plants to which they attach themselves, or they may in rare cases obtain it by preying upon insect life.
Milk of sulphur (see above), obtained by decomposing a polysulphide with an acid, contains both forms. The insoluble variety may also be obtained by decomposing sulphur chloride with water and by other reactions.
The free acid, which crystallizes in brilliant scales, is best prepared by decomposing the silver salt with an ethereal solution of hydrochloric acid.
The typhoid organism was not found to be taken off from the decomposing masses of semi-liquid filth largely contaminated with a culture of bacillus typhosus; but, on the other hand, it was abundantly proved that it could grow over moist surfaces of stones, &c. Certain disease-producing organisms, such as the bacillus of tetanus and malignant oedema, appear to be universally distributed in soil, while others, as the bacillus typhosus and spirillum cholerae, appear to have only a local distribution.