collodion
Noun: A flammable, syrupy, and colorless liquid solution. It is composed of pyroxylin (a form of nitrocellulose) dissolved in a mixture of ether and ethanol. Its primary characteristic is that it dries quickly to form a flexible, transparent film. This property has led to its historical use in medicine as a protective coating for wounds and in photography for holding light-sensitive chemicals on glass plates or film.
Collodion is used as a specific material in technical and historical contexts. * In a medical context: "The doctor applied collodion to seal the small incision." * In a historical/technical context: "Early photographic processes, like the wet plate collodion process, relied on collodion to bind light-sensitive silver salts to glass."
- "Collodion process": A specific historical photographic technique where collodion is used as the binder for light-sensitive silver halides on a glass plate. The plate must be exposed and developed while still wet.
- "Collodion cotton": Another term for pyroxylin, the nitrocellulose base that is dissolved to make collodion. It is a more soluble and lower-nitrogen form of nitrocellulose than guncotton.
- Collodionize (verb, rare): To treat or coat with collodion.
- Pyroxylin (noun): The nitrated cellulose substance that is the solute in collodion.
- Nitrocellulose (noun): The broader chemical class to which pyroxylin belongs.
- Flexible collodion (a specific pharmaceutical preparation).
- Photographic collodion (a specific preparation for photography).
- Film-forming solution (descriptive term for its function).
- Wet plate collodion: The full name for the dominant photographic process from the 1850s to the 1880s.
- Collodion baby: A rare congenital condition where a newborn's skin resembles a shiny, tight film, reminiscent of dried collodion. (Note: This is a medical simile, not a direct use of the substance).
- Collodion membrane: An artificial membrane sometimes created in laboratories using collodion for filtration or dialysis experiments.
- a colorless syrupy solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol; used as a coating for wounds or photographic films