sulphur

«sulphur» in Mova's school dictionary: a yellow chemical element, a solid that is not a metal… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (sulphur, uncountable; US and science spelling sulfur)

meaning for a pupil

1) Sulphur is a yellow chemical element, a solid that is not a metal; its symbol is S. tree →

2) Sulphur and many of its compounds have a strong smell, like rotten eggs (really the gas hydrogen sulphide), and sulphur burns with a blue flame. tree →

3) Sulphur yellow is a bright pale yellow colour. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons sulphur is found around volcanoes and hot springs, is used to make matches, fireworks, gunpowder and fertilisers, and is in the periodic table. Burning fossil fuels that contain sulphur makes acid rain. In the Bible and old stories, «fire and brimstone» uses an old name for sulphur. Phrases: sulphur dioxide, sulphur smell, sulphur springs, smells of sulphur.

examples

• Sulphur is a yellow element found near volcanoes. tree →
• The hot springs smelled of sulphur. tree →
• The symbol for sulphur is S. tree →
• Gunpowder contains sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre. tree →
• Sulphur burns with a blue flame. tree →
• Burning coal can release sulphur, which causes acid rain. tree →
• Brimstone is an old word for sulphur. tree →
• The match head is coated with chemicals that include sulphur. tree →
• The earth itself was the finest sand, but blue as the flame of burning sulphur. tree →

note

Uncountable: «Sulphur is yellow», not «a sulphur». UK, Ireland, Australia and NZ traditionally spell it «sulphur»; the USA and science books worldwide now use «sulfur» (the official chemistry spelling). Both mean the same. The rotten-egg smell is really from sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide; pure sulphur has little smell.

In the corpora

• An over-boiled egg can get a greenish ring around the yolk, where iron from the yolk joins sulphur from the white.
• The silver has tarnished: its surface joined with tiny amounts of sulphur gases in the air and made a thin dark layer.
• Silver tarnishes because it reacts with sulphur gases in the air and makes a thin black layer.
• Eggs, onions and some rubber give off sulphur gases, so silver egg spoons tarnish very quickly.
• Gold almost never reacts with oxygen or sulphur, so it does not tarnish and is used on domes and picture frames.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sulphur» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.