Corrosive substance due to their capabilities of dissolving greases, proteins or mineral deposits such as limescale inside water pipes. In chemical uses, high chemical reactivity is often desirable, as the rates of chemical reactions depend on the activity (effective concentration) of the reactive species. For instance, catalytic sulfuric acid is used in the alkylation process in an oil refinery: the activity of carbocations, the reactive intermediate, is higher with stronger acidity, and thus the reaction proceeds faster. Once used, corrosives are most often recycled or neutralized. However, there have been environmental problems with untreated corrosive effluents or accidental discharges. Corrosive substance A
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