mercaptan
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of mercaptan
1825–35; < Latin, short for phrase corpus mercurium captāns body capturing quicksilver
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But when the gas is processed for transport and sale, producers add a chemical called mercaptan to give it a distinctive “rotten egg” smell that helps make people aware of leaks.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
The CAA has also ordered the gas companies to add the pungent ethyl mercaptan to the gas cylinders to make it easier to smell gas leaks.
From Reuters ● Dec. 8, 2021
Ethyl mercaptan, the stuff added to natural gas to make gas leaks easier to detect, has an odor detection threshold of just 1 or 2 micrograms per cubic meter.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2020
Lucy’s hell stems from the nauseating, rotten-egg stench of mercaptan, a chemical that is added to natural gas to give it its distinctive order.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2016
An average man can detect just a few molecules of butyl mercaptan, and most of us can sense the presence of musk in vanishingly small amounts.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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