what is "ph"?

Answer 1

Basically, pH is a measure of whether something is an acid, a base, or neutral. It is measured on a scale of 1-14, where a pH of below 7 indicates acidic, 7 indicates neutral, and above 7 indicates acidic. pH is the measure of H+ ions in a given substance. The small p next to the H actually stands for "power of" H. If you know the H+ concentration, you can get the pH by taking the negative log of it.

Answer 2

Everyone else is basically right, read their answers. I would like however, to add that the pH range can go below 1 or above 14.
A pH of 1 is equivalent to 1 M HCl, a pH of 14 is equivalent to 1 M NaOH.
You can get the pH down to around -3 or up to near 20. Just try not to be around when it happens.

Answer 3

pH is the negative log of the Hydronium Ion concentration (H3O+).

It is a way of measuring the acidity of a solution by a simple number.

Anything with a value less than 7 is acid. Seven is neutral. And greater than seven is basic.

By the way, you can have pH of 0 or even negative numbers. pH does not end at 1. A five molar solution of HCl has a pH less than zero.

Answer 4

Actually, "ph" is short for 'pouvoir hydrogène' in French, which means hydrogen power in English. It's basically a measure of the amount of positively charged (H+) hydrogen atoms or protons present in a solution.

The more (H+) or hydrogen protons present in a solution means that there more protons are being accepted than electrons, which makes a more base-like solution (Ph >7)...like soap. The less (H+) present means that there are more protons being rejected in a solution, which leads to more of an acidic solution (Ph <7)...like battery acid. In between, (Ph =7) is neutral or is neither an acid nor a base.

Answer 5

It looks like everyone is contributing to this answer, so here's my two cents. pH is actually the concentration of H3O+ in a solution, but H+ is an acceptable way of writing this as it is created by moving a proton (hydrogen atom without its electron) from one water molecule to another. The remaining part of the donating water molecule is then hydroxide, OH-, and pOH is related to the concentration of the hydroxide ion.

pH is dependent of temperature. Specifically, heating up a solution will lower the pH as the dissolution of water produces more H3O+, as well as more OH-. At about room temperature, the sum of pH and pOH is about 14, with the neutral point being 7. At higher temperatures, this sum goes up, and the neutral point increases accordingly.

Just thought that might be of interest.

Answer 6

pH is short hand for -log[H+], or the negative of the logarithm of the molar concentration of hydrogen. The "p" stands for the Latin "pondus" (weight or strength), the "H" for hydrogen (or, most correctly, hydronium) ion concentration in moles per Liter. A high pH means something is very acidic. A low pH means something is very basic.

Answer 7

If you mean pH then it`s a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is.The scale goes from 1 (Mega Acidic) through 7 (Neutral e.g. normal water) up to 14 (Mega Alkaline)
The term is derived from percentage Hydrogen

Answer 8

p stands for the -log of anything. H stands for hydrogen. so, pH is the -log of the concentration of hydrogen. Concentration as in molarity of hydrogen, as in mol/mL
-log [H]

Answer 9

the amount of H ions in a solution

Answer 10

it's a measure of acidity