thiosulphate
A chemist carefully adds sodium thiosulphate to a clear solution in a beaker.
Definition
- Noun (Chemistry):
- A salt or ester of thiosulfuric acid, containing the anion S₂O₃²⁻. It is characterized by the substitution of one oxygen atom in a sulfate ion with a sulfur atom, making it a sulfur analogue of sulfate.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Sodium thiosulphate is commonly used in photographic developing to fix images. (A salt used to remove unexposed silver halides.)
- The chemist prepared a solution of thiosulphate for the titration experiment. (A chemical solution used in analytical chemistry.)
Advanced Usage
"thiosulphate as a reducing agent": In chemical reactions, thiosulphate acts as a reducing agent, often used in redox titrations.
- In the iodine-thiosulphate titration, thiosulphate reduces iodine to iodide. (Thiosulphate donates electrons to iodine.)
"thiosulphate in environmental chemistry": Thiosulphate is used to neutralize chlorine in water treatment.
- Thiosulphate is added to dechlorinate wastewater before discharge. (It removes residual chlorine.)
Variants and Related Words
- Thiosulfate (noun): an alternative spelling of thiosulphate, common in American English.
- The lab manual uses the spelling "thiosulfate" for the same compound. (A variant spelling.)
- Thiosulfuric acid (noun): the parent acid of thiosulphate, with the formula H₂S₂O₃.
- Thiosulfuric acid is unstable and rapidly decomposes. (The acid form of the thiosulphate ion.)
- Hypo (noun, informal): a common short name for sodium thiosulphate in photography.
- Photographers often refer to sodium thiosulphate simply as "hypo". (A colloquial term.)
Synonyms
- Thiosulfate: the American English spelling of thiosulphate.
- Sodium thiosulphate: a specific salt form, often the most common compound referred to as thiosulphate in practical use.
Related Idioms
- None: "thiosulphate" is a technical term and does not appear in common idioms or figurative language.