oxidize

Plastics are easier to oxidize, which makes the reactions require less energy and increases the potential for large-scale use.

From Science Daily ● May 4, 2026

Because the process of nuclear fission does not burn or oxidize anything, nearly all the fuel used in producing energy at nuclear plants becomes waste without reducing its mass.

From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2024

These, Borduas-Dedekind explains, oxidize in the air, forming larger molecules that can easily absorb water and form clouds.

From National Geographic ● Feb. 16, 2024

Over time, the shiny brass exterior will oxidize, giving the pencil holder a vintage, worn-in feel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023

Perhaps there is an exotic inorganic chemistry in the Martian soil that is able by itself, in the absence of Martian microbes, to oxidize foodstuffs.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

When olive oil is exposed to fluctuations in temperature, light and air, which oxidizes the oil to its detriment, its quality diminishes.

From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025

Bella moths are able to avoid the ill effects of pyrrolizidine alkaloids by using a special enzyme that oxidizes the molecule, rendering it harmless.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2024

Food is an organic compound: it congeals, runs, discolors and oxidizes over time and because of the conditions in the kitchen you’re shooting in.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2023

A green, fuzzy coating grows on it as its surface oxidizes.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 20, 2023

"Over time, it partly oxidizes, which keeps providing sites for nutrients to bind to."

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The other was the oxidation state of iron, which can indicate how much water ice and oxidized dust had been incorporated into the original body.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

The remainder is used to produce new roots and leaves or is oxidized to keep living cells functioning through the winter.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026

They don’t have coffee, but they do have Jeju Island–grown “Regenerative Organic-Certified” black tea oxidized as matcha.

From Slate ● May 8, 2026

“I was talking about stale, oxidized matcha powder, but I completely get that it came off a very wrong way. I chose the wrong words and I really apologize for that.”

From Salon ● May 17, 2025

Scattered almost randomly around the top of the mounds are burned, oxidized chunks of rock—hearth stones—in drifts of fish bones and ash.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

In this context, oxygen carried by magma could increase the oxidizing capacity of surrounding materials and potentially influence the balance of oxygen in the atmosphere.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

At an Alaskan research station she inhales the scent of oxidizing permafrost: “Pleistocene-aged grass, mammoth bones, and thousands and thousands of years of microbial cells.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

And a 2016 US government study found perchlorate, an oxidizing agent used in fireworks, had made its way into groundwater and surface water around Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which holds annual July 4 shows.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

Ultrafast spectroscopic techniques using laser pulses with sub-picosecond time resolution revealed an unusual excited-state reactivity and two different photoactive states: a very short-lived but extremely oxidizing high-energy state and a longer-lived moderately oxidizing lower-energy state.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

The transition to an oxidizing atmosphere posed a supreme crisis in the history of life, and a great many organisms, unable to cope with oxygen, perished.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan