2. What is pH?
A.) the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration
B.) the positive logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration
C.) the negative logarithm of the hydroxide ion concentration
D.) the positive logarithm of the hydroxide ion concentration
I have no idea what the answer is.
Please help.
Thank You
The answer to this question is A) the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. To understand why this is the correct answer, let's first break down the concept of pH.
pH is a measure of how acidic or basic a solution is. It is a scale ranging from 0 to 14, where 0 represents a highly acidic solution, 7 represents a neutral solution, and 14 represents a highly basic (alkaline) solution.
The concept of pH is closely related to hydrogen ions (H+) and hydroxide ions (OH-) in solutions. In an acidic solution, there is a higher concentration of hydrogen ions, while in a basic solution, there is a higher concentration of hydroxide ions.
Now, the definition of pH as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration refers to the mathematical relationship between pH and the concentration of hydrogen ions. The logarithm of a number is the power to which a base must be raised to yield that number.
In this case, the base is 10. So, by taking the logarithm (base 10) of the hydrogen ion concentration and then inverting it to a negative value, we obtain the pH value.
For example, let's say a solution has a hydrogen ion concentration of 0.001 moles per liter (mol/L). To find the pH:
- Take the logarithm (base 10) of 0.001: log10(0.001) = -3
- Invert the value to a negative: -(-3) = 3
- Therefore, the pH of this solution is 3.
In summary, the correct answer is A) the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration because pH is defined in relation to the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution.
The definition of pH is
pH = -log(H^+)