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Glite Dictionary
dichlorodifluoromethane

dichlorodifluoromethane

9.9
A colorless man-made gas used in old fridges and spray cans that harms the ozone layer
  • noun
  • /ˌdaɪˌklɔːroʊˌdaɪˌfluːəroʊˈmɛθeɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : diclorodifluorometano
  • The refrigerant known as dichlorodifluoromethane is often used in modern cooling systems.

Examples

  • Before regulations were implemented, many aerosol products contained dichlorodifluoromethane as a propellant.

  • In 1931, dichlorodifluoromethane, CFC-12, was commercially produced.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Due to its environmental impact, the use of dichlorodifluoromethane has been phased out in many countries.

Surface Forms

dichlorodifluoromethane singular
dichlorodifluoromethanes plural

Morphology

dichlorodifluoromethane = methane (semi-transparent) = di + chloro + di + fluoro + methane

Formally built by adding systematic chemical substituent prefixes (dichloro-, difluoro-) to 'methane'; the construction is regular but highly technical and not obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Dichlorodifluoromethane is a chemical name that tells you what the gas is made of: di- means 'two', chloro- is 'chlorine', di- again means 'two', fluoro- is 'fluorine', and methane is a simple one-carbon 'gas'. So the name literally describes a 'methane' molecule with two chlorine and two fluorine parts, which is why it refers to this refrigerant known for harming the ozone layer.