Word Finder - decomposition

definition

A biological process through which organic material is reduced to e.g. compost.

definition

The act of taking something apart, e.g. for analysis.

definition

The splitting (of e.g. a matrix, an atom or a compound) into constituent parts.

This investigator held that the decomposition of the sugar molecules takes place outside the cell wall.

Adding moisture speeds up decomposition.

The digestion of fat or oil has not been adequately investigated, but its decomposition in germinating seeds has been found to be due to an enzyme, which has been called lipase.

It was discovered in 1838 by Piria as a decomposition product of salicin.

The theories propounded may be divided into two groups, namely, those ascribing to petroleum an inorganic origin, and those which regard it as the result of the decomposition of organic matter.

As well as the finest of terrigenous clay there is present in sea-water far from land a different clay derived from the decomposition of volcanic material.

Fluorides can be readily detected by their power of etching glass when warmed with sulphuric acid; or by warming them in a glass tube with concentrated sulphuric acid and holding a moistened glass rod in the mouth of the tube, the water apparently gelatinizes owing to the decomposition of the silicon fluoride formed.

If wet it oxidizes the products of decomposition.

They are mostly colourless liquids which boil without decomposition, or solids of low melting point.

It occurs free in bitter almonds, being formed by an enzyme decomposition of amygdalin.

Further he prepared a large number of substances, including the chlorides and other salts of lead, tin, iron, zinc, copper, antimony and arsenic, and he even noted some of the phenomena of double decomposition.

Should now try non-decomposing bodies, as solid nitre, nitrate of silver, borax, glass, &c., whilst solid, to see if any internal state induced, which by decomposition is destroyed, i.e.

Potassium permanganate in acid solution oxidizes it to carbon dioxide and water; the manganese sulphate formed has a catalytic accelerating effect on the decomposition.

The intermediate summits occurring in the freezing-point curves of alloys are usually rounded; this feature is believed to be due to the partial decomposition of the compound which takes place when it melts.

Pliny shows that for this purpose the gold was placed on the fire in an earthen vessel with treble its weight of salt, and that it was afterwards again exposed to the fire with two parts of salt and one of argillaceous rock, which, in the presence of moisture, effected the decomposition of the salt; by this means the silver became converted into chloride.

It owes its value to the decomposition described above, by means of which a powerful antiseptic action is safely and continuously exerted.

Its advantages rest on its high density and mobility; its main disadvantages are its liability to decomposition, the originally colourless liquid becoming dark owing to the separation of iodine, and its high coefficient of expansion.

Sir John Murray finds the source of the phosphoric acid to be the decomposition of large quantities of animal matter, and he illustrates this by the well-known circumstance of the death of vast shoals of fish when warm Gulf-Stream water displaces the cold current which usually extends to the American coast.

It is, however, a curious question how, considering the increase of carbonic acid by the decomposition of organic bodies and possible submarine exhalations of volcanic origin, the water has not in some places become saturated and a precipitate of amorphous calcium carbonate formed in the deepest water.

Caesium hydroxide, Cs(OH) 2, obtained by the decomposition of the sulphate with baryta water,is a greyish-white deliquescent solid,which melts at a red heat and absorbs carbon dioxide rapidly.

Continuing these experiments, they found that in acetylene gas under ordinary pressures the decomposition brought about in one portion of the gas, either by heat or the firing in it of a small detonator, did not spread far beyond the point at which the decomposition started, while if the acetylene was compressed to a pressure of more than 30 lb on the square inch, the decomposition travelled throughout the mass and became in reality detonation.

It has since been shown, however, that unless the gas is at a pressure of more than two atmospheres this wave soon dies out, and the decomposition is only propagated a few inches from the detonator.

The purity of the carbide entirely depends on the purity of the material used in its manufacture, and before this fact had been fully grasped by manufacturers, and only the purest material obtainable employed, it contained notable quantities of compounds which during its decomposition by water yielded a somewhat high pro portion of impurities in the acetylene generated from it.

On decomposition by water, ammonia is produced by the action of steam or of nascent hydrogen on the nitride, the quantity formed depending very largely upon the temperature at which the carbide is decomposed.

Sulphuretted hydrogen, which is invariably present in commercial acetylene, is formed by the decomposition of aluminium sulphide.

Mourlot has shown that aluminium sulphide, zinc sulphide and cadmium sulphide are the only sulphur compounds which can resist the heat of the electric furnace without decomposition or volatilization, and of these aluminium sulphide is the only one which is decomposed by water with the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen.

The decomposition of the carbide by water may be brought about either by bringing the water slowly into contact with an excess of carbide, or by dropping the carbide into an excess of water, and these two main operations again may be varied by innumerable ingenious devices by which the rapidity of the contact may be modified or even eventually stopped.

The result is that although the forms of apparatus utilized for this purpose are all based on the one fundamental principle of bringing about the contact of the carbide with the water which is to enter into double decomposition with it, they have been multiplied in number to a very large extent by the methods employed in order to ensure control in working, and to get away from the dangers and inconveniences which are inseparable from a too rapid generation.

Other constituents are cholesterol (0.461.32%), traces of calcium, magnesium, sodium, chlorine and bromine, and various aliphatic amines which are really secondary products, being formed by the decomposition of the cellular tissue.

It is obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products; by the reduction of nitrous acid and nitrites with nascent hydrogen; and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides or by slaked lime, the salt most generally used being the chloride (sal-ammoniac, q.v.) thus 2NH 4 C1+Ca(OH) 2 =CaC1 2 +2H 2 O+2NH 3.

At a red heat ammonia is easily decomposed into its constituent elements, a similar decomposition being brought about by the passage of electric sparks through the gas.

It gradually turns yellow on standing in moist air, owing to decomposition with liberation of iodine.

It possesses a strong ammoniacal smell, and on digestion with alcohol the carbamate is dissolved and a residue of ammonium bicarbonate is left; a similar decomposition taking place when the sesquicarbonate is exposed to air.

The aqueous solutions of all the carbonates when boiled undergo decomposition with liberation of ammonia and of carbon dioxide.

The graphite veins in the older crystalline rocks are probably akin to metalliferous veins and the material derived from deep-seated sources; the decomposition of metallic carbides by water and the reduction of hydrocarbon vapours have been suggested as possible modes of origin.

Lavoisier (1781-1788) first proved it to be an oxide of carbon by burning carbon in the oxygen obtained from the decomposition of mercuric oxide.

It is a constituent of the minerals cerussite, malachite, azurite, spathic iron ore, calamine, strontianite, witherite, calcite aragonite, limestone, &c. It may be prepared by burning carbon in excess of air or oxygen, by the direct decomposition of many carbonates by heat, and by the decomposition of carbonates with mineral acids, M2C03+2HC1=2MCl-FH 2 O+CO 2.

Iodine may also be prepared by the decomposition of an iodide with chlorine, or by heating a mixture of an iodide and manganese dioxide with concentrated sulphuric acid.

Besides these, other double cyanides are known which do not suffer such decomposition, the heavy metal present being combined with the cyanogen radical in the form of a complexion.

In this reaction a glycerol ester is formed as an intermediate product, and undergoes decomposition by the water which is also produced at the same time.

In 1835, in a paper on "The Prismatic Decomposition of Electrical Light," he proved that sparks from different metals give distinctive spectra, which afforded a ready means of discriminating between them.

In the Piedmont Plateau and Appalachian Mountains Regions the surface soil is generally sandy, but in considerable areas the subsoil is a red clay derived largely from the decomposition of hornblende.

Benzene-azoethane, C 6 H 5 N 2 C 2 H 5, is a yellow oil which boils at about 180 C. with more or less decomposition.

The disease is characterized by the decomposition of the blood; in fact it is really a form of dropsy.

Such spectra seem to be characteristic of complex molecular structure, as they appear when compounds are raised to incandescence without decomposition, or when we examine the absorption spectra of vapours such as iodine and bromine and other cases where we know that the molecule consists of more than one atom.

The soil of the Territory is almost wholly a decomposition of lava, and in general differs much from the soils of the United States, particularly in the large amount of nitrogen (often more than 1.25% in cane and coffee soil, and occasionally 2.2%) and iron, and in the high degree of acidity.

A treatise on the analysis of thought (Sur la decomposition de la pensee), although sent to press, was never printed.

It may also be obtained by the decomposition of boracite with hot hydrochloric acid.

On the other hand, solution of mineral acids and salts conduct the current with chemical decomposition - they are called electrolytes.

Alumina itself is so refractory that it cannot be melted save by the oxyhydrogen blowpipe or the electric arc, and except in the molten state it is not susceptible of decomposition by any chemical reagent.