Crossword clues for saltpeter
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Saltpeter \Salt`pe"ter\, Saltpetre \Salt`pe"tre\,, n. [F. salp[^e]tre, NL. sal petrae, literally, rock salt, or stone salt; so called because it exudes from rocks or walls. See Salt, and Petrify.] (Chem.) Potassium nitrate; niter; a white crystalline substance, KNO3, having a cooling saline taste, obtained by leaching from certain soils in which it is produced by the process of nitrification (see Nitrification, 2). It is a strong oxidizer, is the chief constituent of gunpowder, and is also used as an antiseptic in curing meat, and in medicine as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and refrigerant.
Chili salpeter (Chem.), sodium nitrate (distinguished from potassium nitrate, or true salpeter), a white crystalline substance, NaNO3, having a cooling, saline, slightly bitter taste. It is obtained by leaching the soil of the rainless districts of Chili and Peru. It is deliquescent and cannot be used in gunpowder, but is employed in the production of nitric acid. Called also cubic niter.
Saltpeter acid (Chem.), nitric acid; -- sometimes so called because made from saltpeter.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. (context US English) (alternative spelling of saltpetre English)
WordNet
n. (KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive [syn: potassium nitrate, saltpetre, niter, nitre]
Wikipedia
Saltpeter, Salpeter or saltpetre collectively refers to several nitrogen-based compounds and minerals:
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Potassium nitrate (KNO), the critical oxidizing component of gunpowder, and a food preservative
- niter, the mineral form of potassium nitrate
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Sodium nitrate (Peru saltpeter or Chile saltpeter), a component of fertilizers, explosives and solid rocket propellants; also a food preservative
- Nitratine, the mineral form of sodium nitrate
- Calcium nitrate ("Norway saltpeter", "Norges salpeter" or "nitrate of lime"), a compound produced in Norway by the Birkeland–Eyde process during early 20th century
- Magnesium nitrate, a hygroscopic salt with the formula Mg(NO)
- Salpeter (disambiguation)
Usage examples of "saltpeter".
Blackbeard dipped hemp cord in saltpeter and limewater and set them to burning under his hat in a fight.
Chemically, what happened was that the water partially dissolved the saltpeter, allowing it to coat the inside of the charcoal micropores, and in the process, it carried the insoluble sulfur particles inside, too.
Contains processed oleander leaves, saltpeter, oil of peppermint, N-Acetyl-p-aminophenol, zinc oxide, charcoal, cobalt chloride, caffeine, extract of digitalis, steroids in trace amounts, sodium citrate, ascorbic acid, artificial coloring and flavoring.
Enoch Root, meanwhile, took passage on a northbound ship, intending to make a rendezvous in Surat with a Danish merchantman that was ballasted with cannons, and that wanted to unload them to make space for saltpeter and cloth.
I used eggshells, sulfur, vitriol, arsenic, sal ammoniac, quartz, alkalis, oxides of rock, saltpeter, soda, salt of tartar, and potash alum.
We might have been in a Fourth of July extravaganza, suspended from a hot air balloon, with barrages of rockets bursting around us, whiz-bangs and cracker bonbons and fountains and fizgigs, but all silent, all marvelous glistering light and no bang, yet so reminiscent of Independence Day displays that you could almost smell the saltpeter and the sulfur and the charcoal, almost hear a stirring John Philip Sousa march, almost taste hot dogs with mustard and chopped onions.
The material components of this spell are a pinch of saltpeter, a pinch of iron filings, a piece of phosphorous, and a pinch of ashes.
The bomb, a thirteen-inch black ball, just lay there, but the fuse was still alive, burning down through the last inch of saltpeter, sulphur and mealed powder until the spark met the charge and the bomb ripped the top story apart just as the other bombs of the first salvo came crashing down into the nearby streets.
Cyrus Harding still needed, in view of his future preparation, another substance, nitrate of potash, which is better known under the name of salt niter, or of saltpeter.
I'm sure we got this saltpeter at home, in barns and piggeries and what not.
They would know potassium nitrate as saltpeter, perhaps, a meat preservative .
Magicians simply said that sal ammoniac, saltpeter, and a few other minerals increased the similarity in some unknown way and let it go at that.
The charges were ignited by a slow match -- tow soaked in saltpeter -- held in a pivoting clamp attached to the stock.