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aqua regia

[ ree-jee-uh ]

noun

, Chemistry.
  1. a yellow, fuming liquid composed of one part nitric acid and three to four parts hydrochloric acid: used chiefly to dissolve metals as gold, platinum, or the like.


aqua regia

/ ˈriːdʒɪə /

noun

  1. a yellow fuming corrosive mixture of one part nitric acid and three to four parts hydrochloric acid, used in metallurgy for dissolving metals, including gold Also callednitrohydrochloric acid
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


aqua regia

/ jē-ə,rē /

  1. A corrosive, fuming, volatile mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. Aqua regia is used for testing metals and dissolving platinum and gold.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of aqua regia1

1600–10; < New Latin: literally, royal water
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Word History and Origins

Origin of aqua regia1

C17: from New Latin: royal water; referring to its use in dissolving gold, the royal metal
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Example Sentences

Neither this acid nor the nitrous will dissolve gold or platina; but a mixture of them, called aqua regia, will do it.

Platina is precipitated from a solution in aqua regia by sal-ammoniac, as gold is by martial vitriol.

It is soluble in the vitriolic or marine acids, and reduced to a yellow calx by nitrous acid or aqua regia.

When solutions in aqua regia are evaporated, chlorides are left.

It is used with hydrochloric acid as a substitute for aqua regia.

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