Corrosive substance Corrosive substance A corrosive substance is one that will damage or destroy other substances with which it comes into contact by means of a chemical reaction. The word "corrosive" is derived from the Latin verb "corrodere", which means "to gnaw", indicating how these substances seem to "gnaw" their way through flesh or other materials. The word corrosive refers to any chemical that will dissolve the structure of an object. They can be acids, oxidizers, or bases. When they come in contact with a surface, the surface deteriorates. The deterioration can happen in minutes, e.g. concentrated muriatic acid spilled on skin;
Chemical nomenclature of technical terms used in chemistry. Similar compendia exist for biochemistry (the "White Book", in association with the IUBMB), analytical chemistry (the "Orange Book"), macromolecular chemistry (the "Purple Book") and clinical chemistry (the "Silver Book"). These "color books" are supplemented by shorter recommendations for specific circumstances that are published periodically in the journal "Pure and Applied Chemistry". The primary function of chemical nomenclature is to ensure that a spoken or written chemical name leaves no ambiguity concerning which chemical compound the name refers to: each chemical name should refer to a single substance. A less important aim is to ensure