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Acid and Base

Acids have a sour taste and pH below 7, with a higher concentration of hydrogen ions indicating a stronger acid. Our stomach uses hydrochloric acid to digest food, requiring a special lining for protection. Bases feel slippery and can damage skin by altering protein structures. A base neutralizes acids by accepting hydrogen ions when added to water, forming hydroxide ions and making the solution alkaline. The pH scale from 0-14 measures acidity and alkalinity of substances, with acids below 7 and bases above 7 on the logarithmic scale.

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18 views

Acid and Base

Acids have a sour taste and pH below 7, with a higher concentration of hydrogen ions indicating a stronger acid. Our stomach uses hydrochloric acid to digest food, requiring a special lining for protection. Bases feel slippery and can damage skin by altering protein structures. A base neutralizes acids by accepting hydrogen ions when added to water, forming hydroxide ions and making the solution alkaline. The pH scale from 0-14 measures acidity and alkalinity of substances, with acids below 7 and bases above 7 on the logarithmic scale.

Uploaded by

Hanehs NoLsub
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Acids

Acids taste sour – in fact, the German word for acid is sauer. Because acids can damage cells,
our stomach needs a special lining to protect it from the hydrochloric acid used to digest our food. We are familiar
with some acids – citrus fruits, tomatoes and vinegar are acidic.

Bases

A corrosive substance is one that will damage or destroy other substances with which it comes into contact by
means of a chemical reaction.

Bases feel slippery to touch. This is because they can change the structure of proteins. A strong base can cause
severe chemical burns because it starts to damage the proteins in your skin. Basic substances are used in many
cleaning products.

The chemical difference between acids and bases is that acids produce hydrogen ions and bases accept hydrogen ions.

A base is a substance that neutralises acids. When bases are added to water, they split to form hydroxide ions, written as
OH-. We call a base that has been added to water an alkaline solution.

Identifying and measuring acids and bases

A pH meter measures how acidic or basic a solution is. When we test a substance with a pH meter, we get a number from 0–
14. This is a pH scale, and it can be used to compare substances. It is important to know that this scale is logarithmic. This
means that a decrease in the pH scale of 1 can result in an increase of 10 times the concentration of hydrogen ions.

Acids have a pH below 7. The more H+ ions, the more acidic it is and the lower the pH will be. Bases have a pH above 7. pH
7 is said to be neutral – this means there is a balance of H+ and OH- ions. Sometimes, the pH value can be less than 0 for very
strong acids or greater than 14 for very strong bases.

pH scale
The pH scale measures the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. The scale ranges from 0 (the most acidic) to 14 (the most
basic).

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