What is pH?? be discriptive?

Question

This is a easy and fast one

Answer 1

pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are considered acidic, while those with a pH greater than seven are considered basic. pH 7 is defined as neutral because it is the pH of pure water at 25 °C. pH is formally dependent upon the activity of hydrogen[1] ions (H+),[2] but for very pure dilute solutions, the molarity may be used as a substitute with some sacrifice of accuracy.[3] Because pH is dependent on activity, a property which cannot be measured easily or predicted theoretically, it is difficult to determine an accurate value for the pH of a solution. The pH reading of a solution is usually obtained by comparing unknown solutions to those of known pH, although there are other methods.

The concept of pH was first introduced by Danish chemist S. P. L. Sørensen. The name, pH, has been purported to come from a variety of places including: pondus hydrogenii (Latin),[4] potentiel hydrogène (French), and potential of hydrogen (English).[5] However pH is actually a shorthand for its mathematical definition: in chemistry a small p is used in place of writing − log10 and the H should more correctly be [H+], standing for concentration of hydrogen ions.

Answer 2

pH is the concentration of hydrogen or hydroxyl ions in a solution. pH values run from zero (the most acidic, containing the greatest concentration of hydrogen ions) to "7" which contains a balance of, or a lack of, hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, and on to 14 (the strongest base or alkali) containing the greatest concentration of hydroxyl ions.

Along the pH scale each number represents a logarithmic change in value. 7 is neutral, 6 is acidic, 5 is more acidic. The amount of hydrogen ions in a "5" are ten times greater than a "6", and a "4" would be ten times greater than a "5" but one-hundred times greater than a "6" (more hydrogen ions as the numbers decrease). On the other side of 7 it's the same (but backwards) more hydroxyl as the numbers increase to "14".

As noted above the small "p" and the capital "H" are standard notations.

Answer 3

pH is defined as "the negative log of the hydrogen ion concentration".

Basically, it is a measurement of the number of hydrogen ions in a solution. The more hydrogen ions, the more acidic. The negative log function takes very large numbers (as in the numbers of hydrogen ions) and translates it into small numbers.

The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, with numbers less than 7 being acidic, numbers greater than 7 being basic, and 7 being neutral.

The reason 7 is neutral has to do with water, the solvent of any solution that you would be testing. Water has one hydrogen ion and one hydroxide ion (+ and -), therefore they "cancel each other out, ergo, neutrality. When you add a solute to water, you are adding either H+ or OH-. The more H+ you add, the lower the pH number is on the scale. The more OH- you add, the higher the number on the scale.

Each number of the pH scale is logarithmic, meaning that each number represents a power of 10 greater in the number of hydrogen ions as you go from 14 to 0.

There is a complementary measurement for OH ions, it is called pOH.

I hope this answers your question.

CHEMISTRY TEACHER

Answer 4

Well,
I am a chemist. pH is what chemists and scientist use to determine if a solution is acidic or basic. Anything above 7 is basic and anything below 7 is acidic. The higher the number is closer to 14, the stronger the base is. A good example of a strong base would be NaOH or better known as sodium hydroxide. An example of a strong acid would be HCl (Hydrochloric acid), H2SO4 (Sulfuric Acid) and the worlds strongest acid known to man that can eat glass is HF (Hydrofluoric acid). You can calculate the pH of a solution using a pH meter or mathematically using the formula which is -log (H+) this is also known as -log (0.0075M) the "M" means molarity which is mol/L. if its a base you are calulating, then use the answere and minus it from 14. Hope this helps.

Wee Man

Answer 5

Though pH is generally expressed without units, it is not an arbitrary scale; the number arises from a definition based on the activity of hydrogen ions in the solution. The pH scale is a reverse logarithmic representation of relative hydrogen proton (H+) concentration. Unlike linear scales that progress in a smooth, incremental manner, a shift in value on the pH scale represents a ten-fold difference in H+ concentration. For example, a shift in pH from 2 to 3 represents a 10-fold decrease in H+ concentration, and a shift from 2 to 4 represents a one-hundred (10 × 10)-fold decrease in H+ concentration. The precise formula for calculating pH is:

pH = -log [concentration of hydrogen ions]

This information and the information given by the first answerer is from wikipedia - check it out for additional good information

Answer 6

pH is the negative logarithm of the H+ ion concentration or simply put it is a measure of acidity or or alkalinity on a scale that runs from 1 to 14 with 7 as neautral. Acidity the lower the number the greater the acidity but the higher the number the greater the alkalinity.

Answer 7

pH is a measure of the acidity of a solution. Basically, it's a count of the hydrogen (technically, hydronium, but let's say hydrogen) ions (more hydrogen ions --> more acidic) per unit volume in the solution - that means the concentration of the hydrogen ions. But often the concentration of hydrogen ions is teensy, not a very convenient number - so usually we take the negative log of that number. The negative log usually comes out to be a nice number between 1 and 14, something we can deal with, that's not 10000000 or 0.00000001 or something.

Answer 8

its the negative log to the base 10 to hydrogen ion concentration.
its is used for detecting acidic or basic character of a substance.
if its value is more than 7 it means its basic and if its value is less than 7 it shows the acidic character of the given substance and if the value is exactly 7 it means its neutral.
the acidic or basic character can also be determined by using a pH paper. if u use a pH paper then the nature of the given sample is determined according to its colour.
the chart will be mentioned in ur lab manual.

Answer 9

A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, numerically equal to 7 for neutral solutions, increasing with increasing alkalinity and decreasing with increasing acidity. The pH scale commonly in use ranges from 0 to 14.

Short and to the point :)

Answer 10

it is the concentration of hydronium ions in a solution 1-6.9999999 being acidic 7 neutral and 7.00000000000000000000001 to 14 basic oooooooorrrrrrrr the power oh hydrogen