Discover the Chemistry Magic: Top 13 Fun and Fascinating Facts About pH You Never Knew!
1. Microbe Divas and Fashionistas
What do cheeky microbes and finicky fashionistas have in common? They're both extremely particular about their environment's pH! Believe it or not: Microbes like bacteria and yeast thrive within specific pH ranges, with bacteria preferring a pH of 3-8 and yeast opting for a pH of 3-6. Meanwhile, healthy skin maintains a pH of 5.5, but infected wounds can jump to a pH range of 7-8.5 due to squatters like bacterial colonies and enzymes. Luckily, science is keeping an eye on these pH divas with fancy wearable tech featuring hydrogel sensors and potentiometric pH-sensing bandages. So, when it comes to pH, it's clear that every little bit counts—whether you're a microbe or a beauty-conscious human!
Source => sciencedirect.com
2. Lemons vs. Baking pH Balance
When life hands you lemons, just remember, they're the tart-tongued party crashers disrupting your baked goods' perfect pH balance: A lemon's low pH of 2-3 contrasts with the basic 8 pH of a brownie, making it crucial for bakers to maintain the correct pH levels to avoid flat and unimpressive dough rise.
Source => oertx.highered.texas.gov
Did you know that Fluorine, considered the Grim Reaper of the periodic table, has cost many chemists their lives due to its extreme reactivity? Find out more about this notorious element!
=> Fun Facts about Halogens
3. Battery Acid vs. Lemon Juice
When life gives you lemons, don't make battery acid: It may come as a shocking revelation, but battery acid is even more acidic than lemon juice, boasting a painfully zesty pH of 1 compared to the sour citrus fruit's 2!
Source => science.org.au
4. Oceans Turning Tangy
Ocean water: now with a twist of lime...thanks to humans! As our carbon dioxide emissions turn Earth's oceans into an ever-so-slightly tangy soda, marine life is feeling the fizz: The typical 8.1 pH of seawater is becoming more acidic, endangering creatures like oysters and corals who rely on their hard shells, along with the precious predator-sensing skills of Nemo's beloved clownfish.
Source => noaa.gov
5. The Sour Secret of Rain
When life gives you lemons, just remember there's something even more sour out there: rain! But not all rain is created equal: normal rain has a pH of about 5.6 due to dissolved carbon dioxide, while acid rain has a lower pH of 4.2 to 4.4 due to sulfuric and nitric acids from emissions like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These pesky acidic components can wreak havoc on plants, wildlife, and water bodies when they mix with precipitation.
Source => epa.gov
6. Body's Perfect pH Balance
In a world where humans strive to maintain their balance in every aspect, it seems our very own kidneys and lungs have mastered the art of equilibrium with a pH level precision that would raise a yogi's eyebrows: Brag all you want about your fancy alkaline water, but it barely makes a dent in the tightly regulated pH range of 7.35-7.45 that your body orchestrates for optimum health.
Source => healthline.com
7. Litmus Man to the Rescue
Ever heard of the superhero 'Litmus Man'? He's the wingman of scientists, always ready to dive into mysterious liquids and reveal their true identity with just a wardrobe change: Litmus paper can measure the acidity of a solution by changing its color from light blue to red for acidic conditions, and from red to blue for basic or alkaline conditions, with a pH range of 4.5–8.3 at 25 °C (77 °F). Although it's quite a versatile pH indicator, it won't give you the fine details of an acid's or base's strength, so pH strips are called in as backup for more precise pH value measurement.
Source => byjus.com
8. Shower pH-iesta Disaster
Turns out, our daily shower routine might secretly be a skin pHiesta gone wrong: Most soaps and shampoos have a pH of 9-10 and 6-7, respectively, which is outside the normal range for skin and hair, potentially causing irritation, dehydration, and even skin diseases. To keep our skin and hair in tip-top pH shape, it's best to choose cleansing products with a pH of about 5.5.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
9. The Power of One pH Unit
Hold onto your acid-washed jeans and alkaline batteries, folks: A mere shift of one unit on the pH scale actually results in a tenfold change in acidity or alkalinity, making water with a pH of 4 a whopping one hundred times more acidic than water with a pH of 6!
Source => usgs.gov
10. Saliva pH and Cavities
Say "ahh" and get ready to learn something jaw-droppingly hilarious about your spit-swapping saliva: the average pH range of your dribble hovers between 6 and 7, with shifts in pH affecting your risk for dental caries – when the pH sinks below 5.5, unsaturation and demineralization processes commence, potentially leading to cavities, and making the maintenance of healthy pH salivary levels crucial in warding off tooth decay.
Source => mdpi.com
11. Beckman's Lemon-to-pH Meter
When life gave Arnold Beckman lemons, he whipped up a groundbreaking electronic pH meter to measure their sourness: Beckman's revolutionary, portable invention stemmed from a citrusy dilemma faced by a friend, subsequently leading to thousands of sales by 1937, and earned him a zestful legacy in the chemical instrumentation world as the founder of National Technical Laboratories (NTL).
Source => acs.org
12. Lemon Batteries
When life hands you lemons, turn them into batteries: The lemon battery is a popular science experiment that highlights the chemical reaction taking place in batteries by using a lemon as an electrolyte, along with zinc and copper electrodes, to generate power that can illuminate small LEDs.
Source => en.wikipedia.org
13. Vampire Fish and Ideal pH
When fish in a pond are feeling a bit "pH-envy" for the ideal life of a vampire: Their preferred pH range is between 6.5-8.5, with the sweet spot being 7.4 – the same average blood pH of the bloodsucking undead's go-to snack! Deviations from this watery balance can stress the fish, clashing with their inner gill-to-life game and causing illness or even sending them to the great fishbowl in the sky.
Source => premierpond.com
