What is the pH scale and how does it work?
Chemistry
ScanSolve AI Answer
Answer
The pH scale measures how acidic or basic a solution is, ranging from 0 to 14.
- pH < 7 = Acidic (lemon juice ≈ 2, stomach acid ≈ 1.5)
- pH = 7 = Neutral (pure water)
- pH > 7 = Basic/Alkaline (soap ≈ 10, bleach ≈ 13)
The formula is pH = −log[H⁺] where [H⁺] is the hydrogen ion concentration in mol/L.
Key fact: The scale is logarithmic — each whole number change represents a 10× change in acidity. pH 3 is 10 times more acidic than pH 4, and 100 times more acidic than pH 5.
Was this helpful?
Still stuck on this one?
Ask a follow-up, and the answer starts from this question.
Got a different question?Ask your own question