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.
Because natural gas has no smell, Piedmont uses mercaptan — also known as methanethiol — to give the gas “a distinctive smell of rotten eggs,” the utility said in a news release.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 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
Whether hydrogen sulfide or mercaptan, Southern California residents have often used terms like “rotting” or “rotten” to describe funky smells.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2021
Estimates vary, but its odor detection threshold is probably around 0.1 or 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter, significantly lower than ethyl or methyl mercaptan.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2020
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
