How to Use sodium hydroxide in a Sentence

sodium hydroxide

noun
  • In this case, chromium chloride and sodium hydroxide swap ions.
    — Meghan Herbst, Wired, 11 May 2021
  • Today's aerosol oven cleaners are often made with lye or sodium hydroxide.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Today's aerosol oven cleaners are often made with lye or sodium hydroxide.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 12 May 2026
  • Today's aerosol oven cleaners are often made with lye, or sodium hydroxide.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 12 Nov. 2023
  • The important thing to keep running was the fan that pumped air through a canister of sodium hydroxide.
    — Robert Kunzig, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
  • So the Hanford workers added huge amounts of sodium hydroxide to neutralize the acid.
    — Valerie Brown, Discover Magazine, 28 Sep. 2018
  • On one tray lay a small mountain of crystal flakes that the main cook said was sodium hydroxide, a fentanyl ingredient.
    — Meridith Kohut, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2024
  • First, the researchers put blocks of wood in a boiling bath filled with water, sodium hydroxide and other chemicals for about two hours.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 16 May 2016
  • Soap combines fats or oils with sodium hydroxide (in the case of soap bars) or potassium hydroxide (for liquid soap).
    — Matt Fuchs, TIME, 3 Mar. 2025
  • When the natural wood is boiled in a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite, the chemicals break down the lignin in the wood.
    — Leah Froats, Discover Magazine, 7 Feb. 2018
  • Manufacturers get chlorine gas as a byproduct of the process that makes sodium hydroxide.
    — Ron Hurtibise, sun-sentinel.com, 26 Apr. 2021
  • One thousand pounds of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, leaked from the tank, according to the response center report.
    — Sara Sneath, NOLA.com, 27 Mar. 2018
  • Yet that is exactly what a pretzel is, a snack whose deep brown shininess is usually achieved by a brief dip in water mixed with lye, aka sodium hydroxide.
    — Bee Wilson, WSJ, 4 Nov. 2023
  • One of the chemicals commonly used in soaps and detergents is sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda.
    — Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Mar. 2022
  • These were allowed to oxidize in the air, after which they were dissolved in a sodium hydroxide solution, which left behind the copper wires.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 4 June 2024
  • That person will be on board as the vessel travels to and from the field trial site, including while the team releases the sodium hydroxide into the ocean.
    — ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2025
  • Most of these entered the waste as an unintended consequence of using cheap sodium hydroxide, Kruger said.
    — Valerie Brown, Discover Magazine, 28 Sep. 2018
  • The dye will help track the location and spread of the sodium hydroxide once released into the ocean, and the vessel’s wake will help mix the solution in with the ocean water.
    — ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2025
  • LaCount said the rear of the tanker, which carried sodium hydroxide, separated from the explosion.
    — Caitlin McGlade, Charlotte Observer, 7 Apr. 2026
  • The natural oils are then mixed with either potassium hydroxide to create a liquid soap or sodium hydroxide to create a solid soap.
    — Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 31 May 2026
  • The natural oils are then mixed with either potassium hydroxide to create a liquid soap or sodium hydroxide to create a solid soap.
    — Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2025
  • White liquor is a chemical commonly used in paper and pulp processing which consists of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide.
    — CBS News, 26 May 2026
  • If the alkali is sodium hydroxide, the result is a hard soap, relatively difficult to dissolve.
    — C. Claiborne Ray, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2018
  • The heavy texture of relaxers smooth out curls while the sodium hydroxide breaks those disulfide bonds so the hair is permanently locked into a different, straighter form.
    — Amber Rambharose, Allure, 10 Dec. 2020
  • The writer cited, among other impacts the water and lands poisoned by the use of sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide leaking into ground water and soil.
    — Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic, 3 June 2024
  • Their approach is to treat blocks of wood with sodium hydroxide and sodium sulphate in a chemical process similar to that used to remove lignin from papermaking pulp.
    — The Economist, 14 June 2018
  • The substance is found in products such brake linings and gaskets, and is used to manufacture chlorine bleach and sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda.
    — CBS News, 5 Apr. 2022
  • This selectively rearranges the ions in the water, creating an acid stream (hydrochloric acid) and a base stream (sodium hydroxide).
    — IEEE Spectrum, 26 Dec. 2024
  • White liquor, which is used to break down wood into paper pulp, is made up of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate, authorities said.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 11 June 2026
  • After watching all this, the Oldsmar plant operator quickly lowered the sodium hydroxide level and called his boss.
    — Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 17 Mar. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sodium hydroxide.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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