Acid test (gold) mark is tested by applying aqua fortis (nitric acid), which dissolves the mark of any item that is not gold. If the mark remains, it is tested by applying aqua regia (nitric acid and hydrochloric acid). If the mark is removed, then this test dissolves the gold, proving the item to be genuine gold. More accurate testing of the item for its fineness or purity can be done through the use of differing strengths of aqua regia and comparative testing of gold items of known fineness. The figurative meaning of the expression, where it is applied to tests of character,
Acid–base reaction the Brønsted-Lowry model, the solvent does not necessarily have to be water that is required by the Arrhenius Acid-Base model. For example, consider what happens when acetic acid, CHCOOH, dissolves in liquid ammonia. An H ion is removed from acetic acid, forming its conjugate base, the acetate ion, CHCOO. The addition of an H ion to an ammonia molecule of the solvent creates its conjugate acid, the ammonium ion, . The Brønsted–Lowry model calls hydrogen-containing substances (like HCl) acids. Thus, some substances, which many chemists considered to be acids, such as SO or BCl, are excluded from this classification due