sodium cyanide

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a white, crystalline, deliquescent, water-soluble, poisonous powder, NaCN, prepared by heating sodium amide with charcoal: used chiefly in casehardening alloys, in the leaching and flotation of ore, and in electroplating.

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sodium cyanide British  

noun

1. a white odourless crystalline soluble poisonous compound with an odour of hydrogen cyanide when damp. It is used for extracting gold and silver from their ores and for case-hardening steel. Formula: NaCN

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Etymology

Origin of sodium cyanide

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sodium cyanide

Dangerous chemicals like mercury and sodium cyanide are used to separate the gold from the ore.

From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2026

Perkovich said a discrepancy between the potassium cyanide obtained by corrections officials and the sodium cyanide called for under state execution protocol "is not a small detail."

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2021

The trapper that placed the devices behind the Mansfield family home, at the behest of a sheep rancher, regularly ordered sodium cyanide capsules from the depot, according to records reviewed by the Guardian.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 26, 2020

Dilute sodium cyanide solution is slowly dripped into a slowly stirred silver nitrate solution.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

The cheaper sodium cyanide is just as satisfactory as the potassium cyanide and therefore is the best material to use.

From Organic Syntheses by James Bryant Conant