'Caustic soda' definitions:

Definition of 'caustic soda'

From: WordNet
noun
A strongly alkaline caustic used in manufacturing soap and paper and aluminum and various sodium compounds [syn: sodium hydroxide, caustic soda]

Definition of 'Caustic soda'

From: GCIDE
  • Soda \So"da\, n. [It., soda, in OIt., ashes used in making glass, fr. L. solida, fem. of solidus solid; solida having probably been a name of glasswort. See Solid.]
  • 1. (Chem.) (a) Sodium oxide or hydroxide. (b) Popularly, sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is also called baking soda [1913 Webster]
  • 2. same as sodium, used in terms such as {bicarbonate of soda}. [PJC]
  • 3. same as soda water. [PJC]
  • 4. a non-alcoholic beverage, sweetened by various means, containing flavoring and supersaturated with carbon dioxide, so as to be effervescent when the container is opened; -- in different localities it is variously called also soda pop, pop, mineral water, and minerals. It has many variants. The sweetening agent may be natural, such as cane sugar or corn syrup, or artificial, such as saccharin or aspartame. The flavoring varies widely, popular variants being fruit or cola flavoring. [PJC]
  • Caustic soda, sodium hydroxide.
  • Cooking soda, sodium bicarbonate. [Colloq.]
  • Sal soda. See Sodium carbonate, under Sodium.
  • Soda alum (Min.), a mineral consisting of the hydrous sulphate of alumina and soda.
  • Soda ash, crude sodium carbonate; -- so called because formerly obtained from the ashes of sea plants and certain other plants, as saltwort (Salsola). See under Sodium.
  • Soda fountain, an apparatus for drawing soda water, fitted with delivery tube, faucets, etc.
  • Soda lye, a lye consisting essentially of a solution of sodium hydroxide, used in soap making.
  • Soda niter. See Nitratine.
  • Soda salts, salts having sodium for the base; specifically, sodium sulphate or Glauber's salts.
  • Soda waste, the waste material, consisting chiefly of calcium hydroxide and sulphide, which accumulates as a useless residue or side product in the ordinary Leblanc process of soda manufacture; -- called also {alkali waste}.
  • Washing soda, sodium carbonate. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Caustic soda'

From: GCIDE
  • Caustic \Caus"tic\, Caustical \Caus"tic*al\, a. [L. caustucs, Ge. ?, fr. ? to burn. Cf. Calm, Ink.]
  • 1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive; searing. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark. [1913 Webster]
  • Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane.
  • Caustic lime. See under Lime.
  • Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions of the same.
  • Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.
  • Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.
  • Syn: Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'caustic soda'

From: GCIDE
  • Sodium \So"di*um\, n. [NL., fr.E. soda.] (Chem.) A common metallic element of the alkali group, in nature always occuring combined, as in common salt, in albite, etc. It is isolated as a soft, waxy, white, unstable metal, so highly reactive that it combines violently with water, and to be preserved must be kept under petroleum or some similar liquid. Sodium is used combined in many salts, in the free state as a reducer, and as a means of obtaining other metals (as magnesium and aluminium) is an important commercial product. Symbol Na (Natrium). Atomic weight 22.990. Specific gravity 0.97. [1913 Webster]
  • Sodium amalgam, an alloy of sodium and mercury, usually produced as a gray metallic crystalline substance, which is used as a reducing agent, and otherwise.
  • Sodium carbonate, a white crystalline substance, Na2CO3.10H2O, having a cooling alkaline taste, found in the ashes of many plants, and produced artifically in large quantities from common salt. It is used in making soap, glass, paper, etc., and as alkaline agent in many chemical industries. Called also sal soda, {washing soda}, or soda. Cf. Sodium bicarbonate, and Trona.
  • Sodium chloride, common, or table, salt, NaCl.
  • Sodium hydroxide, a white opaque brittle solid, NaOH, having a fibrous structure, produced by the action of quicklime, or of calcium hydrate (milk of lime), on sodium carbonate. It is a strong alkali, and is used in the manufacture of soap, in making wood pulp for paper, etc. Called also sodium hydrate, and caustic soda. By extension, a solution of sodium hydroxide. [1913 Webster]