An alkali is a type of base that is soluble in water, to produce the OH- ion. They have a pH of more than 7, have a bitter taste and feel soapy. They turn the universal indicator blue or violet, depending on the pH level, and turn red litmus blue.
As usual, I got some interesting facts about alkalis off the Internet:
- Caesium and rubidium are used to make atomic clocks. Caesium clocks are known to be the most accurate clock to date.
- Different alkalis burn with different coloured flames (which we already know), including sodium (orange yellow), lithium (red), potassium (lilac), rubidium (red), and caesium (blue or violet)
- All the alkalis metals have odd atomic numbers.
- Alkali is derived from the Arabic word for "ashes".
Source: http://www.ducksters.com/science/chemistry/alkali_metals.php
Many of these have probably been discussed before, but they are still very interesting.
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