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| GLOSSARY |
| A |
Acetylene - A gas comprising two atoms of carbon and two of hydrogen (C2H2); used to create larger hydrocarbon molecules as well as in welding. |
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Afrikaans - One of South Africa’s 11 official languages and derived largely from the Dutch spoken by South Africa’s first white settlers. |
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Alizarin - The red colouring matter of the madder root (C14H8O4). |
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Aluminium oxide - A compound of the elements aluminium and oxygen. It is found in nature, but can also be produced from bauxite. One of its uses is as a substrate for catalysts. |
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Ammonia - A compound of nitrogen and hydrogen (NH3), its nitrogen making it useful for producing fertilizer and nitric acid (qv). |
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Ammonium nitrate - Ammonia with additional oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms. Also used to produce fertilizers
and explosives. When heated, it yields laughing gas (nitrous oxide, N2O). |
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Analine - A colourless, oily liquid composed of ring-shaped molecules and used, among other things, for making dyes. |
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Anthracene - A large, ring-shaped hydrocarbon molecule (14 carbon atoms) used to produce artificial alizarin (qv). |
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Anthracite - The most valuable of the various varieties of coal because it contains the highest proportion of carbon. |
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Atom - The basic building blocks of the elements, each of which is composed of atoms unique to it. |
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| B |
Beneficiation - Using one of several available methods to remove unwanted material from a pulverised metallic ore. |
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Butadiene - A colourless, gaseous hydrocarbon compound that has two double bonds, making it easy to polymerise (qv).
It is used to make synthetic rubber. |
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| C |
Carbon monoxide - A highly toxic and flammable gas formed by incompletely converting carbon to carbon dioxide
through incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels. It is used in making many chemical products. |
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Catalyst - A material that accelerates or retards chemical reaction without itself being chemically affected (it may well
be physically changed, though, or even destroyed). |
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Ceramic - A hard and durable material with a crystalline structure and high resistance to chemical corrosion and heat. |
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Charcoal - A porous form of carbon produced by heating wood, bone or sugar in the absence of oxygen. |
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Chemical reaction - The formation of new substances from one or more reactants by breaking existing electrical bonds
and creating others. |
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Cobalt - One of the metal elements, often found in the ores of other metals, soils, plants and animals. Silvery white in
appearance, but with a bluish tinge, it was for centuries used to colour ceramics and glazes blue. Today it is mostly used in
metal alloys from which permanent magnets, cutting tools and heating elements are produced. |
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Commission (plant) - To begin operating a new plant or item of equipment. |
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Comonomer - An unsaturated molecule that joins with another, of a different kind but also unsaturated; the partnership
then polymerises (qv). |
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Copper salt - Copper carbonate, a molecule containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms as well as copper. |
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Corrosion - The slow destruction of metal by chemical reaction; for example, iron or steel can rust away through their
reaction with oxygen contained in air or water. |
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Cyclone - A device for separating two substances of different densities. |
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