• Question: what is alkali?

    Asked by Jenny to Anna, George, Jodi, Rob, Stefan on 17 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by gaia.
    • Photo: Anna Scaife

      Anna Scaife answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      Hi Jenny & Gaia – an alkali is a chemical which, when you dissolve it in water, breaks up into parts and one of those parts will always be an OH- molecule. Alkalis are often described as a subset of chemical bases. A chemical “base” is essentially the opposite of an acid. So, all alkalis are bases, but not all bases are alkali 🙂

      Bases have particular properties like tasting bitter, burning and feeling soapy on your skin.

    • Photo: Stefan Lines

      Stefan Lines answered on 18 Nov 2014:

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