sulfuric acid
noun
Is it sulfur or sulphur?: Usage Guide
The spelling sulfur predominates in U.S. technical usage, while both sulfur and sulphur are common in general usage. British usage tends to favor sulphur for all applications. The same pattern is seen in most of the words derived from sulfur.
Examples of sulfuric acid in a Sentence
Yessar Rosendar, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
Sulfur and water make sulfuric acid, so when the fumes from the eruption blow into a populated area, breathing can become ... unpleasant.
—Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
Venus, by contrast, can be considered Earth’s evil twin—almost identical in size and mass, albeit with thick sulfuric acid clouds and a broiling pressure-cooker climate with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
—Leonard David, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023
His paintings, books, photographs, films, and works on paper — made with ingredients as disparate as gunpowder, sulfuric acid, chocolate, urine, Pepto-Bismol, tobacco, and rose petals — could only come from someone who embodies L.A.’s glamour and chaos, its self-consciousness and banal hopes.
—Vulture, 8 Sep. 2023
If a sulfide mineral is exposed to water and oxygen, as will happen when miners start breaking up rock, the sulfur splits off the metal and bonds with hydrogen and oxygen molecules, forming sulfuric acid.
—Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 19 Dec. 2023
After the men were dead, the killers poured sulfuric acid on the bodies.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023
If an eruption is explosive enough to loft material into the stratosphere and if that material includes a lot of sulfur dioxide gas, the gas forms tiny droplets of sulfuric acid in the stratosphere.
—Howard Lee, Ars Technica, 15 Mar. 2023
Iron nails and diluted sulfuric acid at glass bottom.
—Meredi Ortega, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sulfuric acid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near sulfuric acid
Cite this Entry
“Sulfuric acid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sulfuric%20acid. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share