| buffer pair | An acid and its conjugate base (anion). (05 Mar 2000) |
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| buffer | <biochemistry, chemistry> A system that acts to minimise the change in concentration of a specific chemical species in solution against addition or depletion of this species. PH buffers: weak acids or weak bases in aqueous solution. The working range is given by pKa +/ 1. Metal ion buffers: a metal ion chelator for example EDTA, partially saturated by the metal ion acts, as a buffer for the metal ion. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| buffer capacity | <chemistry> The ability of a buffer solution to absorb added alkali or acid while maintaining the solution's pH. (09 Oct 1997) |
| buffer index | The power of a substance in solution to absorb acid or alkali without change in pH; this is highest at a pH value equal to the pKa value of the acid of the buffer pair. See: buffer capacity. Synonym: buffer index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer value | The power of a substance in solution to absorb acid or alkali without change in pH; this is highest at a pH value equal to the pKa value of the acid of the buffer pair. See: buffer capacity. Synonym: buffer index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer value of the blood | The ability of the blood to compensate for additions of acid or alkali without disturbance of the pH. (05 Mar 2000) |
| buffer zone | <ecology> An area of land separating two distinct land uses that acts to soften or mitigate the effects of one land use on the other. (09 Oct 1997) |
| riparian buffer | Riparian areas that are managed to protect the aquatic and riparian ecosystem. A riparian buffer protects water quality and temperature, habitat along the banks, upland habitat for aquatic and riparian species, and some or all of the floodplain. (05 Dec 1998) |
| secondary buffer | See: Hamburger's law. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dipolar buffer | Buffer whose structure can include opposite charges. Synonym: dipolar buffer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| zwitterionic buffer | Buffer whose structure can include opposite charges. Synonym: dipolar buffer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| base pair | <molecular biology> Two nitrogenous bases (adenine and thymine or guanine and cytosine) held together by weak bonds. Two strands of DNA are held together in the shape of a double helix by the bonds between base pairs. (09 Oct 1997) |
| pair | 1. To be joined in paris; to couple; to mate, as for breeding. 2. To suit; to fit, as a counterpart. "My heart was made to fit and pair with thine." (Rowe) 3. Same as To pair off. See phrase below. To pair off, to separate from a company in pairs or couples; specif., to agree with one of the opposite party or opinion to abstain from voting on specified questions or issues. See Pair. Origin: Paired; Pairing. 1. A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set; as, a pair or flight of stairs. "A pair of beads." . "Four pair of stairs." . Origin: Now mostly or quite disused, except as to stairs] "Two crowns in my pocket, two pair of cards." (Beau. & Fl) 2. Two things of a kind, similar in form, suited to each other, and intended to be used together; as, a pair of gloves or stockings; a pair of shoes. 3. Two of a sort; a span; a yoke; a couple; a brace; as, a pair of horses; a pair of oxen. 4. A married couple; a man and wife. "A happy pair." . "The hapless pair." . 5. A single thing, composed of two pieces fitted to each other and used together; as, a pair of scissors; a pair of tongs; a pair of bellows. 6. Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time; as, there were two pairs on the final vote. 7. <physics> In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion. Pairs are named in accordance with the kind of motion they permit; thus, a journal and its bearing form a turning pair, a cylinder and its piston a sliding pair, a screw and its nut a twisting pair, etc. Any pair in which the constraining contact is along lines or at points only (as a cam and roller acting together), is designated a higher pair; any pair having constraining surfaces which fit each other (as a cylindrical pin and eye, a screw and its nut, etc), is called a lower pair. Pair royal (pl. Pairs Royal) three things of a sort; used especially of playing cards in some games, as cribbage; as three kings, three "eight spots" etc. Four of a kind are called a double pair royal. "Something in his face gave me as much pleasure as a pair royal of naturals in my own hand." . "That great pair royal of adamantine sisters [the Fates]" . [Written corruptly parial and prial. Synonym: Pair, Flight, Set. Originally, pair was not confined to two things, but was applied to any number of equal things (pares), that go together. Ben Jonson speaks of a pair (set) of chessmen; also, he and Lord Bacon speak of a pair (pack) of cards. A "pair of stairs" is still in popular use, as well as the later expression, "flight of stairs." Origin: F. Paire, LL. Paria, L. Paria, pl. Of par pair, fr. Par, adj, equal. Cf. Apparel, Par equality, Peer an equal. 1. To unite in couples; to form a pair of; to bring together, as things which belong together, or which complement, or are adapted to one another. "Glossy jet is paired with shining white." (Pope) 2. To engage (one's self) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions. Paired fins. <zoology> See Fin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pair bond | In animals, the social relationship established between a male and female for reproduction. It may include raising of young. (12 Dec 1998) |
| pair production | <physics> The simultaneous production of an electron and a positron by an interaction of a photon or a fast charged particle with the electronic field of a nucleus or other particle. (16 Dec 1997) |
| pair rule gene | <molecular biology> A segmentation gene, expressed sequentially between gap genes and segment polarity genes. In development of Drosophila, a set of about 8 genes that are expressed only in alternate segments (odd or even) of the developing embryo. Loss of function mutants thus lack alternate segments. Examples: even skipped (eve), fushi tarazu (ftz), hairy. (18 Nov 1997) |