Base (chemistry) increase the hydronium (HO) concentration in water, whereas bases reduce this concentration. A reaction between an acid and base is called neutralization. In a neutralization reaction, an aqueous solution of a base reacts with an aqueous solution of an acid to produce a solution of water and salt in which the salt separates into its component ions. If the aqueous solution is saturated with a given salt solute, any additional such salt precipitates out of the solution. The notion of a base as a concept in chemistry was first introduced by the French chemist Guillaume François Rouelle in 1754. He
Chemistry: A Volatile History contributions to science were cut short in 1794 by the revolutionaries, who arrested him on grounds of being an enemy of the French people, and had him guillotined. In 1807, the Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution in London was the Cornishman Humphry Davy. He was investigating crystalline salts of potash because he was unconvinced potash was an element, but by the end of the previous century, Lavoisier had been unable to break it down further. Since then however, the first electric battery had recently been invented (rows of metal plates and cardboard soaked in saltwater). Although scientists were