SULFUR DIOXIDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sulfur dioxide mean? 

• SULFUR DIOXIDE (noun)
  The noun SULFUR DIOXIDE has 1 sense:

1. a colorless toxic gas (SO2) that occurs in the gases from volcanoes; used in many manufacturing processes and present in industrial emissions; causes acid rain

  Familiarity information: SULFUR DIOXIDE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SULFUR DIOXIDE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A colorless toxic gas (SO2) that occurs in the gases from volcanoes; used in many manufacturing processes and present in industrial emissions; causes acid rain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

sulfur dioxide; sulphur dioxide

Hypernyms ("sulfur dioxide" is a kind of...):

dioxide (an oxide containing two atoms of oxygen in the molecule)

pollutant (waste matter that contaminates the water or air or soil)

gas (a fluid in the gaseous state having neither independent shape nor volume and being able to expand indefinitely)

 Context examples 

In their study, the researchers tested only for nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and particulates smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter.

(Pollution Linked to Significant Decline in Human Cognition, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In full eclipse, the atmosphere effectively collapses, as most of the sulfur dioxide gas settles as frost on the moon’s surface.

(New Research Reveals Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon, NASA)

Among them are known or suspected toxicants, carcinogens and respiratory irritants, including nicotine, ammonia, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, acrolein, hydrogen cyanide, phenol, nitrogen oxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, N-Nitrosamines and radionuclides.

(Environmental tobacco smoke, NCI Thesaurus)

It consists of complex and varying mixtures of particles suspended in the air such as fine solids such as dirt, soil dust, pollens, molds, ashes, and soot; and aerosols that are formed in the atmosphere from gaseous combustion by-products such as volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

(Particulate, NCI Thesaurus)

Io’s thin atmosphere, which consists primarily of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas emitted from volcanoes, collapses as the SO2 freezes onto the surface as ice when Io is shaded by Jupiter, then is restored when the ice warms and sublimes (i.e. transforms from solid back to gas) when the moon moves out of eclipse back into sunlight.

(New Research Reveals Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon, NASA)

These forces result in geological activity, most notably volcanoes that emit umbrella-like plumes of sulfur dioxide gas that can extend up to 300 miles (480 kilometers) above Io and produce extensive basaltic lava fields that can flow for hundreds of miles.

(New Research Reveals Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon, NASA)