upright=1|thumb|right|Test tubes containing solutions of pH 1–10 colored with Universal indicator|an indicator
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pH is a measure of how acidic or basic a substance is, on a scale that typically ranges from 1 to 10. It matters because the acidity or basicity of liquids and solutions affects how they behave in chemistry, biology, and everyday applications like water treatment and food production.
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Article
24 sectionsContents
- History
- Definition
- pH
- p[H]
- pOH
- Measurement
- pH Indicators
- Non-aqueous solutions
- Unified absolute pH scale
- Extremes of pH measurements
- Applications
- pH in soil
- pH in plants
- pH in the ocean
- Three pH scales in oceanography
- pH in food
- pH of various body fluids
- pH calculations
- Strong acids and bases
- Weak acids and bases
- General method
- See also
- References
- External links
upright=1|thumb|right|Test tubes containing solutions of pH 1–10 colored with Universal indicator|an indicator
In chemistry, pH ( or ; ) is a logarithmic scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of aqueous solutions. Acidic solutions (solutions with higher concentrations of hydrogen (Hydrogen ion#Cation (positively charged)|) cations) are measured to have lower pH values than basic or alkaline solutions. While the origin of the symbol 'pH' can be traced back to its original inventor, and the 'H' refers clearly to hydrogen, the exact original meaning of the letter 'p' in pH is still disputed; it has since acquired a more general technical meaning that is used in numerous other contexts.