Ph what is it

Spores are extremely hard to kill and may survive for many years waiting for a favorable environment to grow. An improperly processed can of low-acid food provides an ideal environment for Clostridium botulinum spores, since the bacteria grow in the absence of oxygen at pH greater than 4.

Clostridium botulinum produces an extremely potent neurotoxin that is one of the deadliest poisons known. Eating food containing the toxin causes botulism; even trace amounts of the toxin are enough to kill. Fortunately, the spores of Clostridium botulinum will not grow if the pH of a food is 4. For low-acid foods with a pH value greater than 4. Sources cited:. Household drain cleaners often contain lye, a very alkaline chemical that is reactive. The water from the collector wells supplying the St.

Helens Filtration plant has a pH value of 6. Also when the pH is in this range we might notice an after taste in our water, a metallic flavor. The acidic water is picking up the taste from the copper plumbing lines and bronze faucet fixtures in our homes. This flushes out the water that has been sitting in the faucets and house lines overnight or during slow use times during the day, when you are at work, school, exercising etc.

Besides improving the quality of your water by filtering out any potential bacteria , algae, dirt or sand from the water, we are also buffering the water to raise the pH from the acidic range to the neutral range.

You will not only see the blue-green stains disappear, but your water will not have the metallic taste. After the water has been filtered and is ready for distribution to the public, a pH buffer is added to the water Sodium Hydroxide that raises the pH to 7.

The buffering agent is metered and monitored very closely to insure a high quality control is maintained. The finished water now enters the distribution mains and delivers a fresh, high quality drinking water to the City of St. Return to the Article about Lead in Drinking Water. St Helens, Oregon Skip to main content. Search form.

Search Website. Nature Chemistry , 2 , —; DOI: This was later simplified to the pH we all know and love, whether one has an acid tongue or a caustic wit. David Bradley blogs at Sciencebase Science Blog and tweets sciencebase, he is author of the popular science book "Deceived Wisdom". Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Poland composites company WIT Composites has developed an operating theatre tabletop made from carbon fiber composite materials.

Chinese scientists demonstrate tunable polymers for use in photovoltaics. Our website uses cookies Cookies enable us to provide the best experience possible and help us understand how visitors use our website. To use the pH meter in the photograph below, the water sample is placed in the cup and the glass probe at the end of the retractable arm is placed in the water. Inside the thin glass bulb at the end of the probe there are two electrodes that measure voltage.

One electrode is contained in a liquid that has a fixed acidity, or pH. The other electrode responds to the acidity of the water sample. A voltmeter in the probe measures the difference between the voltages of the two electrodes. The meter then translates the voltage difference into pH and displays it on the little screen on the main box. Before taking a pH measurement, the meter must be "calibrated. The knobs on the box are used to adjust the displayed pH value to the known pH of the solution, thus calibrating the meter.

One of the most popular school science projects is to take the pH of water from different sources. Chances are your school and certainly not you does not have an electronic pH meter lying around, but you can still get an estimate of pH by using litmus paper. Litmus paper, which can be found at pet-supply stores to check the pH of aquariums is simply a strip of paper that, when a sample of water is dropped onto it, turns a certain color, giving a rough estimate of pH.

Excessively high and low pHs can be detrimental for the use of water. High pH causes a bitter taste, water pipes and water-using appliances become encrusted with deposits , and it depresses the effectiveness of the disinfection of chlorine, thereby causing the need for additional chlorine when pH is high. Low-pH water will corrode or dissolve metals and other substances. Pollution can change a water's pH, which in turn can harm animals and plants living in the water. For instance, water coming out of an abandoned coal mine can have a pH of 2, which is very acidic and would definitely affect any fish crazy enough to try to live in it!

By using the logarithm scale, this mine-drainage water would be , times more acidic than neutral water -- so stay out of abandoned mines. The pH of precipitation, and water bodies, vary widely across the United States. Natural and human processes determine the pH of water. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program has developed maps showing pH patterns, such as the one below showing the spatial pattern of the pH of precipitation at field sites for You should be aware that this contour map was developed using the pH measurements at the specific sampling locations; thus, the contours and isolines were created using interpolation between data points.