A substance or agent that causes things to disperse or spread throughout a medium.
From the verb disperse with the suffix -ant (meaning agent or causing), similar to how 'solvent' comes from 'solve.' Primarily used in chemistry and environmental science.
After the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, dispersants became controversial—they technically broke oil into smaller droplets but potentially made the environmental damage worse by keeping toxins suspended in water longer.
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