sulfur dioxide

noun

, Chemistry.

1. a colorless, nonflammable, water-soluble, suffocating gas, SO 2 , formed when sulfur burns: used chiefly in the manufacture of chemicals such as sulfuric acid, in preserving fruits and vegetables, and in bleaching, disinfecting, and fumigating.

sulfur dioxide

1. A colorless, poisonous gas or liquid with a strong odor. It is formed naturally by volcanic activity, and is a waste gas produced by burning coal and oil and by many industrial processes, such as smelting. It is also a hazardous air pollutant and a major contributor to acid rain. Chemical formula: SO 2 .

Word History and Origins

Origin of sulfur dioxide¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

The exhaust spewed by ships there produces about 70 percent of the sulfur dioxide in the air, he notes.

From Science News For Students

It now measures sulfur dioxide using one-hour and five-minute averages.

From ProPublica

For instance, the agency used to measure sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of burning oil and coal, using 24-hour averages.

From ProPublica

Volcanologists typically use instruments on the ground to help warn of eruptions, monitoring changes in gases, such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, that quietly seep from volcanoes between blasts.

From Science News

This approach allowed the researchers to estimate how much sulfur dioxide that the volcano belched before, during and after the eruption.

From Science News

Pfifferling, like most natural wine producers, adds no sulfur dioxide aside from minimal amounts when he bottles the wine.

From The Daily Beast

It does not resist so well hydrochloric acid or sulfur dioxide or alkalies.

From Project Gutenberg

Hydrogen sulfide was what gave the characteristic aroma to rotten eggs, and sulfur dioxide wasn't exactly perfume.

From Project Gutenberg

Sulfur dioxide or chlorine, for example, would not allow the formation of water-ice.

From Project Gutenberg

There is an occasional outpouring of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide.

From Project Gutenberg

Violently ill, I felt the sulfur dioxide rush from my lungs.

From Project Gutenberg