acetylene
pronunciation
How to pronounce acetylene in British English:
UK [əˈsetəli:n]
How to pronounce acetylene in American English:
US [əˈsɛtlˌin, -ən]
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- Noun:
- a colorless flammable gas used chiefly in welding and in organic synthesis
Word Origin
- acetylene (n.)
- gaseous hydrocarbon, 1864, from French acétylène, coined by French chemist Marcelin-Pierre-Eugène Berthelot (1823-1907) from chemical ending -ene + acetyl, which was coined from acetic in 1839 by German chemist Justus von Liebig; see acetic. Liebig's coinage was in reference to a different radical; acetyl was transferred to its current sense in 1850s, but Berthelot's coinage was based on the original use of acetyl. The name acetylene is an unfortunate one as the hydrocarbon is not directly related to the modern acetyl radical and the molecule ... contains a triple bond, not a double bond which the suffix -ene (q.v.) implies. [Flood, "Origins of Chemical Names," 1963]
Example
- 1. But in that case , too , a catalyst would be needed to boost reaction rates enough to account for the dearth of acetylene .
- 2. In may 2010 , two teams of scientists announced that nasa 's cassini orbiter showed titan is harboring an unusual chemical dance party with hydrogen and acetylene .
- 3. This would result in a lack of acetylene on titan and a depletion of hydrogen close to the moon 's surface , where the microbes would live , they said .
- 4. Infrared spectra of titan 's surface taken with the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer ( vims ) showed no sign of acetylene , even though ultraviolet sunlight should constantly trigger its production in the moon 's thick atmosphere .