The pH Scale The Power or Potential of Hydrogen Topic 8.4
Logarithm and pH scientists don’t like really big or really small numbers – use scientific notation the pH scale was proposed to simplify the comparison of concentrations of H + ions in solution the pH scale is based on the log 10 scale – the base 10 logarithm scale is simply an exponential scale (scientific notation) written in a different form
Properties of Water water is neutral – it has equal concentrations of both [H 3 O + ] = [OH - ] [H 3 O + ] = 1x10 -7 [OH - ] = 1x10 -7
Hydrogen ions from water water will self-ionize to a very small extent in pure water at 25°C, the [concentration] of H + ions/H 3 O + and OH - ions are equal – [H 3 O + ] = [OH - ] – both have a concentration of 1.0 x M acid solutions have a greater concentration of H + ions/H 3 O + than OH - ions basic solutions are opposite and have more OH -, and also referred to as alkaline solutions base-solutions
pH of 1 is 100x more acidic than pH of 3 pH of 4 is 1,000x more basic than pH of 1 pH of 6 is 10,000 less concentrated [H + ] than pH of 2 pH[H + ] ions in scientific notation [H + ] ions traditionally 01x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
pHpOH[OH - ] ions in scientific notation [OH - ] ions traditionally 0141x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
pH [H + ] [OH - ] pOH
pH meter measures the voltage difference between the acid inside the bulb and that outside converts voltage to pH must be calibrated and maintained