Relating to or exhibiting allotropy, the ability of an element to exist in multiple different forms with different physical properties.
From 'allotrope' + '-ic' suffix. Derived from Greek roots meaning 'other-turning,' this adjective describes the phenomenon of elemental polymorphism discovered in the 19th century.
Oxygen can be regular O₂ or ozone (O₃)—they're allotropic forms! Ozone protects us from UV rays in the upper atmosphere, while regular oxygen is what we breathe, showing how atomic arrangement completely changes what a substance does.
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