These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'arachnophobia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Heavy water (deuterium oxide (2H 2O) or D 2O) is a form of water that contains a larger than normal amount of the hydrogen isotope deuterium (2H or D, also known as heavy hydrogen), rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope (1H or H, also called protium) that makes up most of the hydrogen in regular water.
In heavy water, each hydrogen atom is indeed heavier, with a neutron as well as a proton in its nucleus. This isotope of hydrogen is called deuterium, and heavy water's more scientific name is deuterium oxide, abbreviated as D 2 0.