Alkali
basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal chemical element
In chemistry, an alkali ( ) or base
is a hydroxide of any of either the alkali metal which are Group I s-block elements, or the alkaline earth metal which are Group II s-block. Alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The adjectives alkaline and, less often, alkalescent are commonly used in English as a synonyms for basic, especially for bases soluble in water. This broad use of the term is likely to have come about because alkalis were the first bases known to obey the Arrhenius definition of a base, and they are still among the most common bases.
Etymology
The word alkali is derived from Arabic القالِي al-qalīy meaning 'the calcined ashes', that is, ashes of burnt Salicornia, a type of saltwort that is the original source of alkaline substances. A water-extract of burned plant ashes, called potash and composed mostly of potassium carbonate, was mildly basic. After heating this substance with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime), a far more strongly basic substance known as caustic potash (potassium hydroxide) was produced. Caustic potash was traditionally used in conjunction with animal fats to produce soft soaps, one of the caustic processes that rendered soaps from fats in the process of saponification, one known since antiquity. Plant potash lent the name to the element potassium, which was first derived from caustic potash, and its chemical symbol K (from the German name Kalium), which ultimately derived from alkali.
The public source identifies “Alkali” as basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal chemical element. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alkali, basic and ionic.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q485742. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alkali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.