The pH Scale

• what is pH?

  a measure of how acidic or basic a solution is. ranges from 0-14, with 0 being strong acids, 14 being strong bases, and 7 being neutral
• solutions with a pH below 7 are acidic, while solutions with a pH above 7 are basic. neutral solutions have an equal balance of hydroxide and hydrogen ions
• the pH scale with step count

  
• pH stands for "power of hydrogen"
• the pH scale is logarithmic
• the pH of soil can vary due to:

  • the type of rock
  • the kind of plants
  • the materials people added
• certain plants prefer certain pH levels in their soils
• there are many places where soil has been contaminated with toxic chemicals, but a technique to deal with it is acid leaching
• acid leaching


  the process of removing heavy metals from soil by adding an acid solution and catching the solution as it drains out. this process is effective, but expensive and disruptive to the natural systems
• using certain types of plants can also help decontaminate soil. the process is called phytoremediation
• most commercial products have a pH that is close to neutral. if not, the Hazardous Household Products Symbols (HHPS) will be used to label the product