Oxide

oxide

1. any compound of oxygen with another element

2. any organic compound in which an oxygen atom is bound to two alkyl or aryl groups; an ether or epoxide

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

oxide

[′äk‚sīd]

(chemistry)

Binary chemical compound in which oxygen is combined with a metal (such as Na₂O; basic) or nonmetal (such as NO₂; acidic).

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Oxide

 

a chemical compound in which an element is combined with oxygen. Some oxides form salts, for example, Na₂O, MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, P₂O₅, SO₃ and C1₂O₇; others, including CO, N₂O, NO, and H₂O, do not. Oxides that form salts are basic, acid, or amphoteric; accordingly, their hydroxides are bases, acids, or amphoteric compounds. The chemical activity of oxides is determined by the location of the oxidized elements in D. I. Mendeleev’s periodic table of the elements.

Many oxides occur naturally, such as water (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and silica (SiO₂, a primary constituent of rocks). The natural oxides of certain elements, including iron and tin, are the starting material for the preparation of the corresponding pure metal. Oxides are widely used in engineering, for example, lime (CaO) is used in construction. Nitric and sulfuric acids are prepared from NO₂ and SO₂.

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Oxide

 

a chemical compound in which oxygen is combined only with more electropositive elements. Examples of oxides are chromous oxide (CrO) and chromic oxide:

The term “oxide” has been incorporated into the international nomenclature for inorganic compounds; the equivalent for this term in the Russian nomenclature is okisel.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.