Why is important to know the pH of household chemicals?

Answer 1

I'm not sure about this, but I think if you know the pH value of the soil, then you can plant specific plants and crops and they will not be harmed by the soil. ;)

Answer 2

It is important to know the pH of household and any other chemicals because you need to know what will react with each other. You also need to know what types of reaction it may have if your skin comes in contact with it.

Answer 3

The scale that is used for measuring the pH, or hydrogen ion concentration … is from 0 to 14, with 7 being the neutral point. The scale for the concentration of hydrogen ions is called the pH value. This stands for potential Hydrogen or strength of the hydrogen. The pH value indicates whether a solution reacts alkaline, neutral, or acid. In a neutral solution, such as pure water, the pH is exactly 7. The pH of an acid solution is less than 7, the pH of an alkaline solution is higher than 7. Thus, an Alkaline Body pH means that the pH of the blood is above 7 with the ideal pH being 7.35. Outside of this range - the body activity is no longer optimal and the metabolism is out of balance.

Answer 4

It is important to know the pH of any substance because it tells you how acidic or basic a substance is. The scale reading of 7 is at it's neutral state meaning there is an equal number of acidic and basic atoms that generally don't respond to reaction.

Answer 5

It depends, on a day to day basis for the average person, it's not really something that is important to take particular notice of.

however, people on medication may need to consider this as it can effect drug uptake by the body.

a simple example would be aspirin: aspirin is slightly acidic, so if you were to take in aspirin while eating low pH foods (acidic foods) the aspirin would be taken up much more readily than if you were eating alkaline foods (foods of high pH)

the most simple explanation for this is that by the acidic food generating H+, its making it harder for the aspirin to dissociate, eg lets say HA is aspirin, and it would normally dissociate into H+ and A-, by increasing H+, the equilibrium is pushed towards there being more HA.

likewise, basic foods would consume H+, and aspirin would dissociate much more readily in order to replenish the lost H+.

now, here is the essential part: the body will take up HA more readily than A-, this is because A- (being ionic) is lipophobic, and therefore the body wont (or will have a hard time) taking it in, whereas HA being lipophilic can easily be taken up by the body, as it can dissolve in the membrane of cells, amongst other things.

so, long story short, pH of foods can significally effect the uptake of medication.

of course, there may be other reasons one would care about the pH of their foods, but the above is probably one which is the most common.

Answer 6

It is important to know the pH of household chemicals to determine what harm can be caused by it and to know how well that chemical can clean.

Answer 7

You can measure the pH with a pH-meter in a laboratorry; at home you can use pH-papers or red cabbage juice.