A mixture of lime, sand, cement, and water often used to protect ceilings or walls. The mixture hardens upon drying to form a hard surface in preparation for final finishing.

One of the Atterberg Limit tests. The water content of an homogenous, fine-grained soil/water mixture where the mixture begins to exhibit plastic behavior upon deformation, as defined by the test method described in ASTM Standard D4318 – 05.
Syn. “lower plastic limit”.
See Mitchell (1993).
See also activity, Atterberg Limits, consistency number, liquid limit, plasticity index, shrinkage limit.

When referring to clay, this is a property where moistened material, when deformed under the application of pressure, will retain the induced deformed shape when the applied pressure is removed.

The numerical difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit; i.e., the difference between the water content of a fine-grained soil/water mixture at the boundary between its liquid and plastic states and the boundary between its plastic and brittle states, based on tests outlined by Atterberg and standardized by ASTM Standard D4318 – 05.
Syn. Plasticity number.
See Mitchell (1993).
See also activity, Atterberg limits, consistency number, liquid limit, plastic limit, shrinkage limit.

See tobermorite 14Å.

A column or cylindrical reactor used to describe the reaction kinetics within a continuous, flowing system.
Cf., batch reactor, chemostat, continuously stirred tank reactor

A petrologic term that refers to alteration or crystallization involving a gas phase, typically forming from cooling magma.

Pneumoconiosis is a lung disease caused by the inhalation of (mineral) dusts, characterized by lung inflammation, coughing and development of fibrous connective tissue (fibrosis). Examples of pneumoconiosis include silicosis, caused by respirable silica, and asbestosis, caused by respirable asbestos.
See asbestosis, silicosis

Derived from the Greek podo (foot) and konia (dust), and refers to a condition in which some nano-particles enter the bloodstream through skin causing a condition characterized by gross enlargement of areas of the body (mostly limbs) by blockage of the lymphatic system or by a non-parasite immune system response. This condition is similar to elephantiasis, which is caused by parasite blockage of the lymphatic system.
Syn., nonfilarial elephantiasis

Point defects are structural imperfections that occur at a specific point within an atomic structure, and may produce a variation in the ideal chemical composition of the crystal. “Schottky defects” occur where a vacancy replaces a cation or an anion from their ideal sites in an atomic structure. In such cases, charge neutrality must be maintained, and thus for example, where a cation is replaced by a vacancy either higher valence cations must be substituted for lower valence cations or a corresponding anion must be replaced by a vacancy. “Frenkel defects” involves a misplacement of a cation (“cationic Frenkel defect”) from its site to an interstitial position where a site does not normally reside. Like the Schottky defect, the Frenkel defect must involve charge neutrality (for example, producing a “cationic Frenkel defect” and an “anionic Frenkel defect”). “Impurity defects” affect the chemical composition of the crystal and involve an atom or ion of a different type either in place of an atom or ion that belongs to the crystal or in an extraneous (interstitial) position. An “F center defect” in alkali halides involves a trapped electron in an otherwise vacant site that was formerly occupied by an anion. This defect is thought to cause a color change in the halide.
Cf., line defect