Have you ever wondered what acids and pH are? The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 and is a measure of a solution's acidity or alkalinity. PH is often measured using a litmus paper. You have probably used this to make sure your pool is treated with chlorine. The pH test is used to measure the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+ ions) that are in a solution. The higher the concentration of hydrogen ions there are, the lower the pH would be.

In chemistry, acids are known to be substances that donate hydrogen ions and raise pH. The stronger an acid is, the more readily it donates hydrogen ions. In comparison, bases are substances that donate hydroxide ions. The hydroxide ions combine with hydrogen ions and produce water. A neutral solution is a solution that has a pH of 7, which means it has an equal concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions. Buffers are solutions that balance pH levels of solutions when acids or bases are added. Buffers are a very important factor to biological systems because they need to maintain pH conditions that are constant.

The cells in out body should maintain a neutral pH of around 7.2-7.6. If the human body goes outside of this range, one may have a coma or may even die.