Name __________________________

pH Scale
You’re probably familiar with the sour taste of acidic lemon juice and the slippery
feel of alkaline (basic) soap. In fact, these characteristics were used to identify acids
from bases long ago. Today, we understand much more about acidity and alkalinity, far
beyond taste and feel.
Acids are most simply defined as proton donors. They are substances that
react with water to produce H O (hydronium) ions (after all, H O + one proton → H O ).
3
+
2 3
+

When you add an acid to water, the water acts as a base, accepting protons from the
acid.
H O + one proton → H O
2 3
+

Bases are most simply defined as proton acceptors. They react with water to
produce OH (hydroxide) ions (H O - one proton → OH ). When you add a base to
-
2
-

water, the water acts as an acid, donating protons to the base.

H O - one proton → OH
2
-

Some acids and bases ionize only partially in water, while others ionize almost
entirely. To quantify how many molecules of an acid or base ionize in water (which we
call the strength of the solution), we use the pH scale. A solution’s place on the pH
scale illustrates how many hydronium (H O ) ions are present in that solution. The pH
3
+

scale is centered around 7, because water contains 1 x 10 moles of H O ions per liter. -7
3
+

A solution with 100x more H O ions than water has 1 x 10 moles of H O per liter, which
3
+ -5
3
+

gives it a pH of 5. This would be considered a weak acid. A solution with 1,000,000x

more H O than water has 1 x 10 moles of H O ions per liter. Any such substance has a
3
+ -1
3
+

pH of 1 and is considered a strong acid. On the other side, a solution with 1/100 the
H O ion concentration of water has 1 x 10 moles of H O ions per liter. This solution has
3
+ -9
3
+

a pH of 9 and is considered a weak base.

This complicated logarithmic calculation gives us a simple 0-14 pH scale:

Strong acids … Weak acids Weak bases … Strong bases

lots of H O … some H O
3
+
3
+
little H O … very little H O
3
+
3
+
Procedure:
A. Go to phet.colorado.edu.
B. Click on the Chemistry tab.
C. Choose the pH Scale simulation.
D. Click on Run in HTML5, then choose the Micro tab.
E. Add battery acid, then use the bottom faucet to drain the tank until 0.1 L remains.

1) Record the pH of the solution:

1.00

2) How many moles of H O (hydronium) ions are present in each liter of the solution?
3
+

***Answer in scientific notation and decimal form.

Recall how pH relates to the exponent of the concentration of H O ions.
3
+

1x10-1 mol H30+

3) How many moles of H O ions are present in 0.1 L of the solution (the volume in the
3
+

cup)?
.01 mol H30+

F. Add water until there is 1 L of solution in the container. Compared to the H O in

3
+

the battery acid, the H O in the water is negligible. So, we can consider the
3
+

amount of H O in the diluted solution to be unchanged by the added water.

3
+

4) Since the amount of hydronium is essentially unchanged, how many moles of H O 3

+

ions are present in the liter of diluted solution?

0.1 mol H30+

5) What is the new concentration of H O ions, in moles per liter?

3
+

1.0x 10-2M

6) What is the pH of the new diluted solution?

2.0
7) Explain why diluting the battery acid increased the pH by 1.
The number of ions decreased by 10

G. Drain the 10% battery acid solution until 0.1 L remains. Be careful not to drain too
much of the solution. If you drain too much, you will have to restart the
experiment from the beginning.
H. Pour water into the container until the volume again reaches 1 liter. Be careful
not to pour too much water into the solution.

8) After again increasing the volume by a factor of 10, what is the new concentration of
H O ions?
3
+

1.0 x 10-3M

9) What is the pH of the new solution?

3.0

I. Drain the 1% battery acid solution until 0.1 L remains.

J. Pour water into the container until the volume again reaches 1 liter.

10) After again increasing the volume by a factor of 10, what is the new concentration of
H O ions?
3
+

11) What is the pH of the new solution?

4.0

K. Drain the 0.1% battery acid solution until 0.1 L remains.

L. Pour water into the container until the volume again reaches 1 liter.

12) After again increasing the volume by a factor of 10, what is the new concentration of
H O ions?
3
+

1.0 x 10-5M
13) What is the pH of the new solution?
-5

M. Drain the 0.01% battery acid solution until 0.1 L remains.

N. Pour water into the container until the volume again reaches 1 liter.

14) After again increasing the volume by a factor of 10, what is the new concentration of
H O ions?
3
+

1.0 x 10-6M

15) What is the pH of the new solution?

-6

O. Drain the 0.001% battery acid solution until 0.1 L remains.

P. Pour water into the container until the volume again reaches 1 liter.

16) After again increasing the volume by a factor of 10, what is the new concentration of
H O ions?
3
+

-2.0 x 10-7

17) What is the pH of the new solution?

6.8

18) Why did the pH increase by a lesser amount than previous dilutions? Is the italicized
statement in step F still true? What happens to the difference between the solution’s
H O ion concentration and water’s H O ion concentration each time you dilute the
3
+
3
+

solution?
the autoionizatin of h20

Q. Use the Custom tab at the bottom to answer the following questions. Manipulate
the amount of hydronium and hydroxide in the custom solution.

19) As the H O ion concentration decreases, the pH

3
+

__increases________________________.

20) The product of a solution’s H3O concentration and its OH concentration must
+ -

always be 1 x 10 . So, if a solution’s H O concentration goes down, the solution’s OH

-14
3
+ -
concentration must go __up_________. In other words, if we have less hydronium, we
must have ______more____________ hydroxide.