arsenic acid
- noun
- /ˈɑːrsənɪk ˈæsɪd/
- Specialized
:
ácido arsénico
- The chemist used arsenic acid to synthesize new compounds.
Examples
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Exposure to arsenic acid can pose serious health risks if proper safety measures are not followed.
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In the laboratory, arsenic acid was diluted with water before being added to the reaction mixture.
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Arsenic acid is used as a reagent in some chemical synthesizing processes.
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The laboratory handled arsenic acid with extreme caution due to its toxicity.
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Can you explain what arsenic acid is?
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Arsenic acid is commonly used as a reagent in chemical manufacturing to create various compounds.
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The research team took precautions while experimenting with arsenic acid due to its harmful properties.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'arsenic' and 'acid' can infer this refers to an acid derived from or containing arsenic (even if they do not know the chemical formula). The element+acid naming pattern is a regular, cross-linguistic chemistry convention (e.g. sulfuric acid), so the expression is immediately understandable from its parts.
Etymology
Arsenic acid is named very literally: it is the acid form of the element arsenic, so the two words tell you what the substance is. The old name arsenic comes from a Greek word for a strong, poisonous mineral, which helps you remember that arsenic acid is a dangerous acid handled carefully in labs.
