calcium carbonate

noun

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of calcium carbonate

: a compound CaCO₃ found in nature as calcite and aragonite and in plant ashes, bones, and shells and used especially in making lime and portland cement and as a gastric antacid

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Recent Examples of calcium carbonate from the Web

This formula contains calcium carbonate, which can neutralize stomach acid.

— macaela mackenzie, Allure, "Here's What's Causing Your Indigestion Pain — and How to Get Rid of It," 3 Apr. 2018
All three types of crystals that the team studied—calcite, a form of calcium carbonate; cordierite, an iron- and magnesium-rich silicate; and tourmaline, a boron-rich silicate—worked well at intervals of 3 hours or less.

— sid perkins, Science | AAAS, "Viking seafarers may have navigated with legendary crystals," 3 Apr. 2018
Later this year, his team plans to conduct its first outdoor trial, launching a slow-moving balloon over Tucson, Arizona, to disperse substances such as calcium carbonate dust or sulfur dioxide to reflect the sun’s rays back into space.

— katherine ellison, WIRED, "Why Climate Change Skeptics Are Backing Geoengineering," 28 Mar. 2018
The shield is biodegradable and is made of calcium carbonate, the same component that coral skeletons are made of.

— sarah gibbens, National Geographic, "Floating Sunscreen-Like Film Could Protect the Great Barrier Reef," 27 Mar. 2018
Later this year, his team plans to conduct its first outdoor trial, launching a balloon over Tucson to disperse substances such as calcium carbonate dust or sulfur dioxide to reflect the sun’s rays back into space.

— katherine ellison, San Francisco Chronicle, "Can hacking the planet ward off climate change?," 25 Mar. 2018
Unfortunately, acidic soils can actually cause some of that limestone (which is calcium carbonate) to transform into CO2, which is released into the air.

— scott k. johnson, Ars Technica, "Crush the right rock and spread it on farms to help soil and the climate," 22 Feb. 2018
The fungus grows inside the concrete, producing calcium carbonate as a byproduct.

— avery thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Embedding Fungus in Concrete Could Make the Material Self-Healing," 23 Jan. 2018
This involved scraping a few milligrams of calcium carbonate deposit from the paintings for analysis.

— ben hirschler, Anchorage Daily News, "Oldest known cave paintings yield big surprise: Neanderthals may have been the first artists," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'calcium carbonate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of calcium carbonate

1868

in the meaning defined above

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