Word of the Day
11 March 2026
dropping point
The temperature at which a grease passes from a semi-solid to a liquid state under specific test conditions.
Why this one
Not a service ceiling: it is a laboratory marker for the thickener letting go of the oil, so working temperatures are kept well below it. Read it as a family fingerprint, lithium versus calcium versus clay, rather than a temperature rating.
In use
That calcium grease has too low a dropping point for the oven bearings; we ran it and it bled straight out of the housing.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.