Molybdates

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A class of chemical compounds containing the anion molybdate, often used in analytical chemistry and materials science
2. Compounds formed with molybdenum and oxygen, recognized for various applications in catalysis and pigment production
3. Salts or esters derived from molybdic acid that are utilized in diverse industrial processes and research settings

Etymology: Molybdates take their name from molybdenum, the metal, which in turn comes from the Greek "molybdos," meaning lead. The confusion is old: graphite and the mineral molybdenite were long mistaken for lead ores because they look similar and leave marks on paper, and it was not until Carl Wilhelm Scheele showed in 1778 that molybdenite contained a distinct metal that the mistake was recognised. Peter Jacob Hjelm isolated the metal itself in 1781, and the element was named molybdenum in the decade that followed. The "-ate" ending is the standard chemical suffix for salts of an acid. Molybdic acid was named on the same pattern, so a salt of it became a molybdate, in the same way that sulphuric acid gives sulphates and nitric acid gives nitrates. The plural form simply reflects that the term covers the whole family of these compounds.