sulfuric acid

nounChemistry.

a clear, colorless to brownish, dense, oily, corrosive, water-miscible liquid, H2SO4, usually produced from sulfur dioxide: used chiefly in the manufacture of fertilizers, chemicals, explosives, and dyestuffs and in petroleum refining.

Origin of sulfuric acid

First recorded in 1780–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Although there’s evidence that it was once covered in oceans and could have been habitable, today it’s a scorched hellscape with clouds of sulfuric acid.
NASA will be heading back to Venus for the first time in decades | Lisa Grossman | June 2, 2021 | Science News
These include the water in low clouds and sulfuric acid spewed by volcanic eruptions.
COVID-19 cut pollution in 2020, warming the atmosphere | Sid Perkins | March 24, 2021 | Science News For Students
Scientists have observed this new particle formation process with gases such as sulfuric acid, particularly over urban areas, where the chemical is abundant, and hypothesize that smog arises largely as a result of new particle formation.
Cloud-Making Aerosol Could Devastate Polar Sea Ice | Max Kozlov | February 23, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
Phosphine’s persistence in the clouds shrouding Venus suggests something must be currently producing it — otherwise the sulfuric acid in the planet’s upper atmosphere would have destroyed any signs of the gas by now.
Hope for life on Venus survives for centuries against all odds | Tom Siegfried | September 25, 2020 | Science News
For one thing, the Venusian clouds are exceedingly high in sulfuric acid, meaning the microbes would have had to evolve a way to deal with its corrosive effects.
Signs of Life on Venus Hint at Biology Pretty Much Anywhere in the Universe | Jeffrey Kluger | September 15, 2020 | Time

Evaporate a portion of the extract to dryness and add sulfuric acid to the residue.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce
If sulfurous acid is present, it will be oxidized to sulfuric acid and precipitated as barium sulfate by the barium chlorid.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce
A white precipitate of barium sulfate will form if sulfuric acid is present.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce
Mix a bit of the powder with a small quantity of dry resorcin and add a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce
Heat at 200° C. till sulfuric acid fumes begin to come off and only a dry mass remains.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants | Edwin M. Bruce

sulfuric acid

A strong corrosive acid. It combines very easily with water, making it a good drying agent. Sulfuric acid is the most widely used acid in industry. It is used to make detergents, dyes, drugs, explosives, pigments, fertilizers, and many other products. It is also the acid in lead-acid electric batteries. Chemical formula: H2SO4.

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