alkalinity

…acidity, or high level of alkalinity, in the body fluids, including the blood. Alkalosis may be either metabolic or respiratory in origin. Metabolic alkalosis results from either acid loss (which may be caused by severe vomiting or by the use of potent diuretics [substances that promote production of urine]) or…

…certain level of acidity or alkalinity in a solution through the use of buffer solutions is essential to many chemical and biological experiments. Many biochemical processes occur only at specific pH values, which are maintained by natural buffers present in the body.

Lakes with high alkalinity levels, such as Mono Lake in California, can still support some forms of life.

A similar situation exists in alkaline soils, although different minerals are affected. Oats planted in alkaline soils that actually contain a sufficient amount of manganese may develop the manganese-deficiency disease gray speck. This occurs because an elevated soil pH causes manganese to react with oxygen to produce manganese dioxide, a…

The research on the nature of alkalinity, which Black conducted for his thesis, laid the basis for the most important paper of his career, “Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, and Some Other Alcaline Substances,” given to the Philosophical Society of…