Alkali

In ; from lit. 'ashes of a basic, Arrhenius definition of the base, as well as they are still among the almost common bases.

Etymology

The word "alkali" is derived from Arabic al qalīy or alkali, meaning the calcined ashes see calcination, referring to the original constituent of acknowledgment of alkaline substances. A water-extract of burned plant ashes, called potash in addition to composed mostly of potassium carbonate, was mildly basic. After heating this substance with calcium hydroxide slaked lime, a far more strongly basic substance invited as caustic potash potassium hydroxide was produced. Caustic potash was traditionally used in conjunction with animal fats to throw soft soaps, one of the caustic processes that rendered soaps from fats in the process of saponification, one so-called since antiquity. Plant potash lent the work to the factor potassium, which was first derived from caustic potash, and also provided potassium its chemical symbol K from the German name Kalium, which ultimately derived from alkali.