PH

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ph

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the discoverer?Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen, Danish chemist, in 1909
2. What does pH stand for and why is it important?pH is a number that tells us how sour or basic a liquid is. It comes from the German word for power and the letter H for hydrogen.
3. How does the pH scale work?The pH number is the negative log of the hydrogen ion concentration. Each step changes the acidity tenfold.

Aqueous Solution: A solution in which water is the principal solvent, containing dissolved ions like H+ and OH-.
Hydrogen Ion Activity: A measure of the effective concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution, which influences pH.
Buffer System: A solution that resists changes in pH when small amounts of acid or base are added, crucial for biological stability.