Answer:
In chemistry, a base is a substance that is slippery to the touch and has a pH greater than 7. If you were to eat a base (which you should not do) it would have bitter to the taste. A perfect example of a base is soap - when you touch soap, it feels slippery. Have you ever accidentally tasted soap? You may notice that it has a bitter taste.
These are some physical characteristics of bases, but what about the theory behind the behavior of bases when they are in a solution? There are many theories from different scientists that describe a base. One Swedish scientist, named Svante Arrhenius, came up with the theory of a base in 1884. Svante Arrhenius' definition of a base is what we now refer to as an Arrhenius base.
An Arrhenius base is a substance that, when dissolved in an aqueous solution, increases the concentration of hydroxide, or OH-, ions in the solution. An aqueous solution is a solution that has water present in it. Let's imagine dissolving a basic substance in water. According to Svante Arrhenius, when a base dissolves in an aqueous solution, it dissociates into ions and releases hydroxide ions.
NaOH dissociates into sodium, Na+, and hydroxide, OH-, ions. Because the hydroxide ions are released in the aqueous solution, the hydroxide concentration increases; therefore, NaOH is an Arrhenius base.
Sodium hydroxide, when dissolved in an aqueous solution, releases hydroxide ions in the solution.
The water above the arrow means that the NaOH is added or combined with water and dissociates into sodium, a positive cation, and one or more negative hydroxide anions.
Explanation:
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