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Glite Dictionary
ammonium carbonate

ammonium carbonate

1 6.1
A white solid chemical used in smelling salts and to make bread and cakes rise
  • noun
  • /əˈmɒn.i.əm ˈkɑːr.bə.neɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : carbonato de amonio
  • Smelling salts often contain ammonium carbonate, which provides a strong aroma.

Examples

  • The chemist used ammonium carbonate to create a solution for the experiment.

  • "They experimented with a number of solvents and found that a combination of ethylene diamine tetracetic acid and ammonium carbonate in water worked best.

    Academic text (2003)

  • In baking, ammonium carbonate acts as a leavening agent to help dough rise.

Surface Forms

ammonium carbonate singular
ammonium carbonates plural

Morphology

ammonium + carbonate

The noun is a straightforward chemical compound name formed by combining the ions 'ammonium' and 'carbonate', so its meaning as the salt composed of those constituents (NH4)2CO3 is directly derivable from the parts. Chemical naming is compositional and cross-linguistically regular, so a learner who knows both constituent terms can reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Ammonium carbonate gets its name from two parts: ammonium (from the very strong-smelling gas ammonia) and carbonate (which makes gas when warmed). When warmed or crushed it gives off a sharp ammonia smell and gas, so people used it as 'smelling salts' to wake someone who fainted and long ago to 'make dough rise'. So the name shows its strong smell and its power to produce gas.