{ "model": { "rank": 13423, "code": "thing-q192036", "model_id": "vr.tr.chemical-decomposition", "name": "chemical decomposition", "purpose": "Let an agent explain chemical decomposition and its types, describe examples and applications including polymer degradation and recycling, relay safety considerations, and support chemistry learning.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.PRC", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q192036/", "tier": 2, "score": 37, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "depolymerization", "Chemically assisted degradation of polymers", "thermal degradation of polymers", "thermal decomposition", "thermal decomposition reaction", "electrolytic decomposition reaction", "Enzymatic depolymerization", "Thermal depolymerization", "thermal degradation" ], "aliasCount": 9, "merged": 9, "knownIn": 37, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q192036", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192036", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T00:49:35Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q192036", "registryId": "vr.tr.chemical-decomposition", "name": "chemical decomposition", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.PRC" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q192036/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.chemical-decomposition", "name": "chemical decomposition", "purpose": "Let an agent explain chemical decomposition and its types, describe examples and applications including polymer degradation and recycling, relay safety considerations, and support chemistry learning.", "definition": "A chemical reaction in which a compound breaks down into simpler substances or elements, driven by heat as thermal decomposition, by electricity as electrolytic decomposition, by light or by chemical agents, including the depolymerisation and thermal degradation of polymers; decomposition reactions are the reverse of synthesis, are used in industry, recycling and analysis, and can be hazardous when they release gases or heat rapidly.", "what_it_is_for": "Breaking compounds into simpler substances.", "affordances": [ "explain types", "describe examples and applications", "relay safety considerations", "support learning" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Single reactant", "Energy input", "Multiple products", "Industrial use" ], "appearance": "Not visible as a class; reactions producing gases, residues or simpler products.", "visual_identification": [ "One compound into two or more products", "Thermal, electrolytic, photolytic or chemical", "Synthesis combines substances; combustion reacts with oxygen" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "thermal decomposition", "electrolytic decomposition", "photolytic decomposition", "catalytic and chemically assisted decomposition", "polymer degradation and depolymerisation" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "chemical reaction", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "organochlorine compound", "why": "compounds that decompose" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "thermodynamics", "why": "energetics of decomposition" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "plasma", "why": "high-energy decomposition" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Chemical safety data on decomposition hazards", "Recycling and waste treatment regulations", "Laboratory safety standards" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Runaway decomposition and explosions", "Toxic decomposition products", "Confusing decomposition with other reaction types" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What decomposition is.", "rationale": "Chemistry.", "layers": [ { "id": "types", "name": "Types", "description": "Types and examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "types-finding", "name": "Types", "description": "Types.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are thermal, electrolytic, photolytic and catalytic decomposition, with examples such as carbonates, water and hydrogen peroxide?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific reaction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "energetics", "name": "Energetics", "description": "Energetics and kinetics.", "findings": [ { "id": "energetics-finding", "name": "Energetics", "description": "Energetics.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do decomposition reactions need energy input, and what determines their rate and products?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits reaction kinetics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "apply", "name": "Apply", "description": "Applications.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "industry", "name": "Industry", "description": "Industrial uses.", "findings": [ { "id": "industry-finding", "name": "Industry", "description": "Industry.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is decomposition used in industry, such as lime production, electrolysis and pyrolysis?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific process?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "polymers", "name": "Polymers", "description": "Polymer degradation and recycling.", "findings": [ { "id": "polymers-finding", "name": "Polymers", "description": "Polymers.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do thermal and chemically assisted degradation and depolymerisation enable chemical recycling of plastics, according to research?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which findings are preliminary?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "safety", "name": "Safety", "description": "Safety.", "rationale": "Safety.", "layers": [ { "id": "hazards", "name": "Hazards", "description": "Decomposition hazards.", "findings": [ { "id": "hazards-finding", "name": "Hazards", "description": "Hazards.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which substances decompose hazardously, and how are runaway reactions prevented, according to safety data?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is a chemical emergency present now, requiring emergency services?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "lab", "name": "Lab", "description": "Laboratory practice.", "findings": [ { "id": "lab-finding", "name": "Lab", "description": "Laboratory.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are decomposition experiments conducted safely in teaching laboratories?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits laboratory safety?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Teaching and history.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can decomposition reactions be taught with demonstrations?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did the study of decomposition contribute to the discovery of elements and electrochemistry?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each type be a separate entry?", "How should safety data be linked?", "How should recycling technologies be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a chemical decomposition, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain chemical decomposition and its types, describe examples and applications including polymer degradation and recycling, relay safety considerations, and support chemistry learning.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: depolymerization, Chemically assisted degradation of polymers, thermal degradation of polymers, thermal decomposition, thermal decomposition reaction, electrolytic decomposition reaction, Enzymatic depolymerization, Thermal depolymerization, thermal degradation.", "9 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 37 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a chemical decomposition, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "depolymerization", "Chemically assisted degradation of polymers", "thermal degradation of polymers", "thermal decomposition", "thermal decomposition reaction", "electrolytic decomposition reaction", "Enzymatic depolymerization", "Thermal depolymerization", "thermal degradation" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 37 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 9 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one chemical decomposition from another, and a chemical decomposition from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a chemical decomposition sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a chemical decomposition from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a chemical decomposition passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a chemical decomposition between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a chemical decomposition, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a chemical decomposition is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a chemical decomposition proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a chemical decomposition, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a chemical decomposition and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a chemical decomposition consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a chemical decomposition takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What chemical decomposition is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of chemical decomposition are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is chemical decomposition operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of chemical decomposition and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of chemical decomposition?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as chemical decomposition?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a chemical decomposition came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a chemical decomposition and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a chemical decomposition is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a chemical decomposition, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a chemical decomposition, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a chemical decomposition is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }