zeolite
noun
Forms zeolites
- noun (mineralogy) Any of several minerals, aluminosilicates of sodium, potassium, calcium or magnesium, that have a porous structure (originally, those which swelled and gave off water when heated); they are used in water softeners, in ion exchange chromatography, and as industrial catalysts.
Etymology
From Swedish zeolit, and its source, New Latin zeolites, from Ancient Greek ζέω (zéō, “to boil, bubble”) + -lite.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A term now used to designate any one of a family of minerals, hydrous silicates of alumina, with lime, soda, potash, or rarely baryta. Here are included natrolite, stilbite, analcime, chabazite, thomsonite, heulandite, and others. These species occur of secondary origin in the cavities of amygdaloid, basalt, and lava, also, less frequently, in granite and gneiss. So called because many of these species intumesce before the blowpipe. Needle zeolite, needlestone; natrolite.
Etymology [Gr. -lite: cf. F. zéolithe.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “zeolite”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details