the.com/alkalinity
Water's ability to take a punch of acid and not flinch.
means A measure of how much acid a solution of water can neutralize before its pH actually starts to drop.
from Traces back to 'alkali,' borrowed via medieval Latin from Arabic 'al-qaly,' meaning 'the ashes' — specifically the ashes of saltwort and similar plants, which were burned and leached to make a soda-rich substance used in soap and glassmaking. The '-inity' suffix later bolted on to turn the substance into an abstract quality, the capacity to act like those ashes — buffering, neutralizing, refusing to go sour.
- measures
- buffering capacity, not just pH
- units
- usually mg/L as calcium carbonate
- aquariums
- crashes cause sudden deadly pH swings
- not the same as
- basicity or high pH alone