litmus, organic dye usually used in the laboratory as an indicator of acidity or alkalinity (see acids and bases). Naturally pink in color, it turns blue in alkali solutions and red in acids. Commonly, paper is treated with the coloring matter to form so-called litmus paper. Litmus is extracted, chiefly in the Netherlands, from certain lichens (see archil), which are mashed, treated with potassium carbonate and ammonia, and allowed to ferment. The resulting product is mixed with various colorless substances, such as chalk or gypsum, and is sold in dark blue lumps, masses, or tablets. The active component of litmus, i.e., the part sensitive to acids or bases, is called erythrolitmin.

Mixture of coloured organic compounds obtained from several species of lichens. In the form of a water solution or as litmus paper, it is the oldest and most-used indicator of whether a substance is an acid or a base. It turns red or pink in acid solutions and blue or purple-blue in alkaline solutions.

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Litmus or litmus test may refer to:

• Litmus test (chemistry), a common pH test
• Litmus (Mozilla), a test case management tool maintained by Mozilla
• "Litmus" (Battlestar Galactica), an episode in the first season of the Battlestar Galactica television series
• Litmus (software), a WebDAV server protocol compliance test suite
• Litmus Test of Medjugorje, a test of ecclesiastical obedience on part of the seers and the apparition of Medjugorje
• Litmus test (language), an English colloquialism:
• Any kind of social indicator used to classify someone either favorably or unfavorably
• Litmus test (politics), a question asked of a potential candidate