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malleability

(Encyclopedia)malleability, property of a metal describing the ease with which it can be hammered, forged, pressed, or rolled into thin sheets. Metals vary in this respect; pure gold is the most malleable. Silver, ...

palmitin

(Encyclopedia)palmitin pălˈmətĭn [key], fat that is the triglyceride of palmitic acid, CH3(CH2)14CO2H, i.e., the tripalmitate ester of glycerol. It is a white crystalline solid at ordinary temperatures, insolub...

viscose process

(Encyclopedia)viscose process vĭsˈkōs [key], method widely used for the commercial preparation of rayon. Cellulose, prepared from either wood pulp or, less commonly, cotton linters, is treated with sodium hydrox...

corrosion

(Encyclopedia)corrosion, atmospheric oxidation of metals (see oxidation and reduction). By far the most important form of corrosion is the rusting of iron. Rusting is essentially a process of oxidation in which iro...

alloy

(Encyclopedia)alloy ălˈoi, əloiˈ [key] [O. Fr.,=combine], substance with metallic properties that consists of a metal fused with one or more metals or nonmetals. Alloys may be a homogeneous solid solution, a he...

ammonia

(Encyclopedia)ammonia, chemical compound, NH3, colorless gas that is about one half as dense as air at ordinary temperatures and pressures. It has a characteristic pungent, penetrating odor. Ammonia forms a minute ...

fatty acid

(Encyclopedia)fatty acid, any of the organic carboxylic acids present in fats and oils as esters of glycerol. Molecular weights of fatty acids vary over a wide range. The carbon skeleton of any fatty acid is unbran...

Cannizzaro, Stanislao

(Encyclopedia)Cannizzaro, Stanislao stänēsläˈō kän-nēt-tsäˈrō [key], 1826–1910, Italian chemist. From 1861 he was professor at Palermo and from 1871 at Rome, where he was also a member of the senate and...

cellophane

(Encyclopedia)cellophane, thin, transparent sheet or tube of regenerated cellulose. Cellophane is used in packaging and as a membrane for dialysis. It is sometimes dyed and can be moisture-proofed by a thin coating...

Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey, 1921–, English inorganic chemist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Ernst Otto Fischer for their independent research on the organometallic compounds of the t...