copper sulphate

British  

noun

1. a copper salt found naturally as chalcanthite and made by the action of sulphuric acid on copper oxide. It usually exists as blue crystals of the pentahydrate that form a white anhydrous powder when heated: used as a mordant, in electroplating, and in plant sprays. Formula: CuSO 4

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Example Sentences

Today when industrial-scale food adulteration occurs, such as the 85,000 tonnes of olives treated with copper sulphate that Italian police seized in February, we expect a systemic response.

From The Guardian • Apr. 18, 2016

In particular, he and his team are working on alternative treatments for common vine mildews; the conventional one, copper sulphate, accumulates in soil in doses that are toxic to wildlife.

From Nature • Dec. 19, 2012

Putting a crystal of copper sulphate in solution so that it grows is not life.

From Nature • Oct. 12, 2011

Just within Canada on the western border is a copper plant which belches forth a fog of copper sulphate, destructive to orchards in the State of Washington for miles around.

From Time Magazine Archive

The solution may be directly precipitated with copper, the copper passing into solution as copper sulphate, and the silver separating as a mud, termed “cement silver.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various