alginic acid

English

From algin +‎ -ic and acid.

alginic acid (plural alginic acids)

(biochemistry) An insoluble colloidal acid (C₆H₈O₆)_n that in the form of its salts is a constituent of the cell walls of brown algae and is used as a food additive.
- 1955, Rachel Carson, chapter 2, in The Edge of the Sea‎, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 17:
  For the long-stalked kelps that sway in dusky forests just below the level of the spring tides, survival in the surf zone is largely a matter of chemistry. Their tissues contain large amounts of alginic acid and its salts, which create a tensile strength and elasticity able to withstand the pulling and pounding of the waves.

colloidal acid