Alkali Quotes

“Agriculture”

“The solid alkalis are not decomposed by the action of heat alone.”

“Wikipedia: Alkali”

“The general formula of the alkalis is written MOH rather than M₂OH₂O; M = Li, Na, K, Cs, Rb, or NH.”

“Lithia is much less soluble in water than the other alkalis.”

“The next step in the investigation was to collect the peculiar air which Black had proved to be evolved during the calcination of mild magnesia.”

“We shall now enumerate the properties usually described as belonging to alkalies, distinguishing how far they are possessed by the three salts and the four earths above enumerated.”

“Only the volatile alkali has been decomposed. The others have often been suspected to be also compound, and with some probability, but they have hitherto eluded the attempts of chemists to decompose them.”

“Alkali. Alkaline Earth. The class of alkalis is amongst the most antient in chemical science, and one which has stood its ground through all the changes occasioned by modern discoveries, though with some modification.”

“Lavoisier thought that these bodies must be compounds; but, as he had no means of proving this, he classed them with the elements, while suggesting that the earths were probably compounds of oxygen with unknown metals.”

“The properties of the alkalis were supposed by the older chemists to be due to a 'principle of alkalinity,' or sometimes to a 'principle of saltness,' which latter principle was common to acids, alkalis, and the products of their mutual action, i.e. salts.”

“[In 1755 Black] presented his thesis on "Magnesia Alba, Quicklime and other Alkaline Substances," which contained the results of what is probably the first accurately quantitative examination of a chemical action which we possess.”

“It appears therefore that there is scarcely a single characteristic except the change of certain colours, that will apply equally to all the alkalies and akaline earths, but yet the general resemblance is so great as to justify this classification.”

“Magnesia alone has the least claim to the title of an alkaline earth, and yet its affinity to acids is strong, and its power of changing some of the vegetable colours is very considerable.”

“Closely allied to, and sometimes regarded as identical with, the alkalis, was the group of earths. These bodies were known to neutralise acids and affect colouring matters like alkalis, but they were much less soluble in water than the alkalis.”

“With the exception of magnesia, they all powerfully corrode the soft parts of vegetables, and especially animals. Bulk for bulk, the fixed alkalies are by far the most powerful and active in this respect.”

“In the time of Stahl the name "salt" was applied... to the substance produced by the union of an acid with an alkali; but the same word was used by the alchemists with an altogether different signification.”

“Black then recalls the experiments of Hales, wherein airs other than common air had been prepared, and concludes that the loss of weight noticed when mild magnesia is calcined is probably due to expulsion, by the heat, of some kind of air.”

“It was taught by some chemists that an alkali is hidden in every earth, and by others that an alkali is an earth refined by the presence of acid and combustible matter. Black's exact quantitative investigations tended to disparage all such explanations as these; but it yet remained to find the precise composition the alkalis and the earths.”

“The alkalis are very soluble in water; these solutions neutralise acids forming salts, and also precipitate most of the heavy metals from their solutions in the form of oxides or hydrated oxides; aqueous solutions of the alkalis act corrosively on animal and vegetable substances, and also alter the tint of many colouring matters.”