A synthetic product is created through an industrial process: for example, synthetic leather.
The notion of synthetic , coming from the Greek word synthetikós , has several uses. The first meaning included in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to that linked to synthesis .
The summary of a thing is called a synthesis; to the creation of something from the union of its parts ; and, in chemistry , the process that allows obtaining a compound from substances that are simpler .
Synthetic characteristics
Synthetic, therefore, is something that is made from the parts to achieve a whole. The most common use of the concept is associated with the product manufactured using industrial mechanisms and techniques that allow the characteristics of a natural substance to be reproduced.
Synthetic rubber , for example, is a polymer with elastic behavior (i.e., an elastomer). It is usually used as a replacement for natural rubber, which comes from the latex of certain plants. Synthetic grass , for its part, imitates natural grass and is used on sports fields.
Synthetic grass is used in sports fields.
A type of chemical element
A synthetic chemical element , in this framework, does not arise naturally on our planet , but is developed artificially. There are more than twenty synthetic elements, with atomic numbers ranging from 95 to 118 .
It is important to mention that synthetic elements are always unstable and radioactive . They also have a short half-life.
Technetium, a synthetic metal
Technetium was the first synthetic element discovered. Within the group of those that do not have stable isotopes, it is the lightest of all. Furthermore, it is the first that we can find in the periodic table, where we recognize it by its symbol and its atomic number, Tc and 43 respectively.
Before continuing, we must point out that it is a transition metal , that is, it is located in the center of the periodic system and includes the D orbital in its electronic configuration, partly filled with electrons. It is silvery gray and crystalline, and its chemical properties are halfway between those of manganese and rhenium.
There are elements that were initially created artificially and that is why they were mentioned as synthetic elements, although over time they were detected in nature. One of them is plutonium , which was synthesized in 1940 and was only found in the natural environment later.
A sound generated with an electronic device
In another area, this term serves to give a name to synthetic sound , a fairly broad concept, since it is used to name any sound that is made through the use of an electronic device with the purpose of imitating that of a real instrument , group in which we must include the human voice, or that of other living beings.
Synthetic sound is very common today, particularly to complement graphic elements in computer programs and applications on mobile devices. Let's think about a basic example: electronic pianos emit a synthetic sound that imitates that of the acoustic instrument. In fact, many models allow us to "imitate" the sound of more than one instrument, such as the guitar, the violin and even drums and drums, all of them using the typical keys of a piano.
While we can argue that its qualities cannot compete with those of a natural sound, produced by a real instrument and enriched by the acoustic qualities of its environment, synthetic has several advantages. One of them is the cost: few people have the money to buy a grand piano, while the price of an electronic keyboard is very affordable. In the cinematographic field, on the other hand, creating sounds for a film on a computer is much more accessible than the traditional method .