calx

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calx

A chemist carefully weighs a sample of calx on a laboratory scale.

Definition

Noun: 1. The powdery residue left after the calcination of a substance, especially a metal or mineral; lime (calcium oxide). This is the primary chemical and historical meaning. * In chemistry, "calx" refers specifically to the solid product remaining when an ore or mineral is heated strongly in air. For example, heating limestone (calcium carbonate) produces quicklime (calcium oxide), which is a calx. * Historically, in alchemy, "calx" was the term used for the residue, often a powdery oxide, left after a metal was burned in air.

Usage Examples
  • Noun:
    • The alchemist carefully weighed the calx of tin produced by the experiment.
    • Heating calcium carbonate drives off carbon dioxide, leaving a calx of calcium oxide.
    • In early chemistry, the formation of a calx was a key process in understanding combustion and oxidation.
Advanced Usage
  • The term is largely archaic in modern general English but remains a precise technical term in the history of science and chemistry to describe pre-modern concepts.
  • "To reduce to a calx": An archaic phrase meaning to calcine or oxidize a substance completely by strong heating.
    • The ore was reduced to a calx in the furnace.
Variants and Related Words
  • Calcination (n): The process of heating a substance to a high temperature to bring about thermal decomposition or to remove volatile components, often resulting in a calx.
  • Calcine (v): To heat a substance (like an ore) to a high temperature to cause decomposition or oxidation, producing a calx.
Synonyms
  • Lime (specifically quicklime, calcium oxide)
  • Oxide residue
  • Calcined ash (in specific contexts)
Notes on Different Meanings
  • The word "calx" has one core meaning but is used in two primary contexts:
    • Modern Chemical Context: A precise term for the solid product of calcination, especially calcium oxide (CaO).
    • Historical/Alchemical Context: A general term for the powdery, often metallic, residue left after burning or strongly heating a substance in air.
calx

A chemist carefully weighs a sample of calx on a laboratory scale.

Noun
  1. a white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide

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