sodium tripolyphosphate

5.3

A salt used in soaps and detergents to help them clean better

noun
/ˈsoʊdiəm traɪˌpɒlɪˈfɔːsfeɪt/

Specialized

: tripolifosfato de sodio

Many detergents contain sodium tripolyphosphate to improve their cleaning power.

Examples

The ingredient list showed that sodium tripolyphosphate was added to improve the detergent's cleaning power.
Researchers analyzed the effectiveness of sodium tripolyphosphate in various soap formulations.
Environmental regulations often limit the amount of sodium tripolyphosphate in wastewater due to its potential to cause algal blooms.
Is sodium tripolyphosphate safe for use in household cleaners?
Many detergents contain sodium tripolyphosphate to improve their cleaning power.
The ingredient list showed that sodium tripolyphosphate was added to improve the detergent's cleaning power.
Researchers analyzed the effectiveness of sodium tripolyphosphate in various soap formulations.

Surface Forms

sodium tripolyphosphate singular

sodium tripolyphosphates plural

Morphology

sodium + tripolyphosphate

This is a regular chemical compound name: 'sodium' identifies the cation and 'tripolyphosphate' names the anionic phosphate chain (tri- + poly- + phosphate), so the phrase denotes the sodium salt of triphosphoric phosphate and its function as a phosphate-based builder. Although the terminology is technical, the meaning is compositionally derived from its parts and follows standard naming patterns, so a learner who knows the constituent elements can infer the overall sense.

Etymology

Sodium tripolyphosphate is named for its parts: sodium is the salt and tripolyphosphate means three linked phosphate pieces. Think of three little hooks that pull away minerals from hard water so soap can work better, so it is used 'to improve cleaning' in detergents.