the.com/precipitate
the moment a solution gives up and turns its secrets into solids
means To cause something to happen suddenly or prematurely, or — in chemistry — to make a dissolved substance separate out as a solid; as an adjective, it means rash and hasty.
from From Latin praecipitare, "to throw headlong," built from prae- "before, forward" and caput "head" — literally to send something off head-first over a cliff. That cliff-edge sense survives in "precipice," a close cousin sharing the same plummeting root. The chemical meaning is younger and gentler, picturing a substance "falling out" of its solution, while the everyday sense keeps the original reckless tumble: to precipitate a crisis is to push it over the edge.
- latin root
- means thrown headlong, like a cliff diver
- two meanings
- the solid that drops and the act of rushing
- crime use
- forensic chemists precipitate poisons out of evidence
- weather cousin
- rain is just water precipitating from sky solution
- on cue
- add a reagent and matter appears from nowhere
acid rain in scandinavia — sulfur dioxide from british coal plants caused ph 4.0 rain across norway and sweden from the 1960s-1980s
mount waialeale hawaii — receives 460 inches of annual precipitation, one of earth's wettest spots on kauai island
cherrapunji india — recorded 1,041 inches in 1861, historically the world's highest measured annual rainfall in meghalaya