For those not totally sick of this topic... :) Here's one research technique: use google "define:" command to search many random websites.
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+electrolysis Several of them have Ed Storms' usage, including a UK chemistry textbook: electrolysis is a chemical reaction or "change" caused by electric current. Other sites define it exclusively as decompostion. Clearly the word has multiple definitions in present use. There's also a missing definition with which I'm familiar: electrolysis is an entire class of phenomena, essentially meaning "electrochemistry of electrodes" rather than chemical reactions. Expert authors are free to use several definitions as needed, while knowning that their intended audience is sophisticated enough to derive the desired meaning from context. Then I wondered, with all the sound and fury of this past week, did anyone ever think to query Britannica? Does it settle on Ed Storms' usage, or on the older definition, or both? Here's "Britannica Concise." http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9363559 (((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) ))))))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty http://staff.washington.edu/wbeaty/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Research Engineer [EMAIL PROTECTED] UW Chem Dept, Bagley Hall RM74 206-543-6195 Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700
