Base (chemistry) Base (chemistry) In chemistry, bases are substances that, in aqueous solution, release hydroxide (OH) ions, are slippery to the touch, can taste bitter if an alkali, change the color of indicators (e.g., turn red litmus paper blue), react with acids to form salts, promote certain chemical reactions (base catalysis), accept protons from any proton donor or contain completely or partially displaceable OH ions. Examples of bases are the hydroxides of the alkali metals and the alkaline earth metals (NaOH, Ca(OH), etc., see alkali hydroxide and alkaline earth hydroxide). These particular substances produce hydroxide ions (OH) in aqueous solutions, and are
Equilibrium chemistry and there will be one or more measured quantities, "y", that depend in some way on the analytical concentrations and equilibrium constants. A general computational procedure has three main components. Brønsted and Lowry characterized an acid–base equilibrium as involving a proton exchange reaction: An acid is a proton donor; the proton is transferred to the base, a proton acceptor, creating a conjugate acid. For aqueous solutions of an acid HA, the base is water; the conjugate base is A and the conjugate acid is the solvated hydrogen ion. In solution chemistry, it is usual to use H as an abbreviation