Rochelle salt

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Definition

Noun: 1. A specific double salt compound: Rochelle salt is the common name for potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate (KNaC₄H₄O₆·4H₂O). It is a crystalline salt with historical and technical uses, notably as a mild laxative and in certain scientific applications.

Usage
  • Rochelle salt is primarily discussed in historical, pharmaceutical, and technical contexts. It is not a common term in everyday conversation.
  • It functions as a singular, uncountable noun when referring to the substance in general (e.g., "The recipe calls for Rochelle salt"). It can be pluralized when referring to types or specific crystals (e.g., "different grades of Rochelle salts").
Examples
  • Historical/Pharmaceutical Context:
    • Seidlitz powders, an old-fashioned remedy, contained Rochelle salt as their active cathartic ingredient.
    • The apothecary prepared a dose using Rochelle salt.
  • Technical/Scientific Context:
    • Rochelle salt crystals exhibit piezoelectric properties, meaning they generate an electric charge under mechanical stress.
    • Early crystal microphones and phonograph pickups sometimes utilized Rochelle salt.
Advanced Usage
  • "Piezoelectricity of Rochelle salt": A standard phrase in physics and materials science describing its key technical property.
    • The piezoelectricity of Rochelle salt was discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Jacques Curie.
Variants and Related Words
  • Potassium sodium tartrate: The systematic chemical name for Rochelle salt.
  • Seidlitz powder: A historical laxative preparation that contained Rochelle salt as a primary component.
  • Tartrate: A general term for salts or esters of tartaric acid; Rochelle salt is a specific tartrate.
  • Cathartic: (noun/adjective) A substance that accelerates defecation, or relating to such an effect. This describes one of Rochelle salt's historical uses.
Synonyms
  • Potassium sodium tartrate (formal chemical synonym)
  • KNaC₄H₄O₆·4H₂O (chemical formula)
Notes on Different Meanings

The term "Rochelle salt" has a single, specific meaning referring to the chemical compound. It does not refer to common table salt (sodium chloride) or to salt from the city of La Rochelle, France (from which it derives its name). Its usage is almost entirely confined to its identity as a specific substance.

Noun
  1. a double salt used in Seidlitz powder; acts as a cathartic

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