sodium hydroxide

nounChemistry.

a white, deliquescent, water-soluble solid, NaOH, usually in the form of lumps, sticks, chips, or pellets, that upon solution in water generates heat: used chiefly in the manufacture of other chemicals, rayon, film, soap, as a laboratory reagent, and in medicine as a caustic.

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potassium hydroxide vs. sodium hydroxide

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Origin of sodium hydroxide

First recorded in 1880–85

Also called caustic soda, soda.

Words Nearby sodium hydroxide

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sodium hydroxide in a sentence

The crushed bauxite is then mixed with sodium hydroxide to extract aluminum oxide, leaving behind a highly toxic red sludge in the process.
A North Carolina town struggles under the toxic shadow of the company that built it | Emily Cataneo/Undark | December 17, 2021 | Popular-Science
The attack took place at the city’s water treatment plant, which purifies groundwater for drinking using filters and chemicals, including small amounts of sodium hydroxide.
America’s Drinking Water Is Surprisingly Easy to Poison | by Peter Elkind and Jack Gillum | March 17, 2021 | ProPublica
Authorities estimate the hacker had access for three to five minutes, and during that time, they adjusted the level of sodium hydroxide in the water from a normal 100 parts per million all the way up to 11,100 parts per million.
Hackers accessed a Florida water treatment plant’s system and tried to make a dangerous change | Stan Horaczek | February 9, 2021 | Popular-Science
The intruder changed the level of sodium hydroxide to 11,100 parts per million, a significant increase from the normal amount of 100 ppm, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a Monday morning press conference.
Computer intruder tried to poison Florida city’s drinking water with lye | Dan Goodin | February 8, 2021 | Ars Technica
A portion was gently warmed with a few drops of a strong solution of potassium cyanide and two drops of sodium hydroxide.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron) | William Anderson Syme

A portion of the water solution was heated with glucose and a few drops of sodium hydroxide.
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant: (Rhus Toxicodendron) | William Anderson Syme
Still, the practical use of ammonia, especially in combination with sodium hydroxide, is found to be most effective.
The Elements of Qualitative Chemical Analysis, vol. 1, parts 1 and 2. | Julius Stieglitz
After being weighed, it can be dissolved in a little sodium hydroxide and poured into the bottle.
The Book of Cheese | Charles Thom and Walter Warner Fisk
The ferrous solution, used for reducing the silver citrate, had been brought to exact neutrality with sodium hydroxide.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide

noun

a white deliquescent strongly alkaline solid used in the manufacture of rayon, paper, aluminium, soap, and sodium compounds. Formula: NaOH: Also called: caustic soda See also lye

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for sodium hydroxide

sodium hydroxide

A white, corrosive, solid compound that absorbs water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and forms lye when in solution. Sodium hydroxide is toxic and strongly alkaline and is used to make chemicals and soaps and to refine petroleum. Chemical formula: NaOH.

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