What is "ostwald"

Ostwald may refer to:

• Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald, the physico-chemist (awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1909)

1. Ostwald's rule of polymorphism: in general, the least stable polymorph crystallizes first
2. The Ostwald Process, a synthesis method for making nitric acid from ammonia
3. Ostwald ripening, a crystallization effect
4. Ostwald color system

• Ostwald (crater), a crater on the far side of the moon
• Ostwald, Bas-Rhin, a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in France

Ostwald is a lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies just to the east of the crater Guyot, and near the northern border of Ibn Firnas. Recht lies along its eastern rim.

This is a worn and eroded crater formation with an irregular rim and inner wall due to multiple small impacts. A brief crater chain forms a cleft in the western inner face. The interior is somewhat more level, but is pock-marked by a multitude of tiny craterlets. There are some low central ridges to the south and northeast of the midpoint.

Prior to naming in 1970 by the IAU, this crater was known as Crater 212.