zinc sulfide

noun

, Chemistry.

1. a white to yellow, crystalline powder, ZnS, soluble in acids, insoluble in water, occurring naturally as wurtzite and sphalerite: used as a pigment and as a phosphor on x-ray and television screens.

Word History and Origins

Origin of zinc sulfide¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

In fact, scientists have been doing studies like this since the 1960s, releasing tracers such as zinc sulfide powder or sulfur hexafluoride gas into the stratosphere to study air currents.

From Scientific American

Geiger and Marsden recorded the particles’ scattering by observing the flash, or scintillation, produced whenever one struck a glass plate coated with zinc sulfide.

From Literature

That means that GJ 1214b is definitely shrouded with clouds—made not of water vapor, but rather of potassium chloride, or perhaps zinc sulfide.

From Time

Did you know that boron is a critical component of Silly Putty and that radium, when combined with zinc sulfide, is the stuff that makes glow-in-the-dark watches glow?

From Washington Post

The luminous watch dials consist of a coating of zinc sulfide under continual bombardment by the radium projectiles.

From Project Gutenberg