But is it +0 or -0? Neutral 0 is a lie, a measurement precision error.
Comment on Is water an acid or a base?
21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
Isn’t water itself the pretty literal definition of 0 and it doesn’t become one or the other until it’s a solution with something else?
trolololol@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
joyjoy@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Water is the definition of 7.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Also I’m pretty sure it’s only coincidentally 7. The calculation for pH isn’t based any property of water.
wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Well, yes and no. The pH scale follows the hydrogen ion concentration, but specifically in aqueous media. The reason 7 is in the “middle” of the scale is because the natural dissociation of water sits at equilibrium at 10^-7 M at 298K, IIRC. So perturbations naturally just displace that specific equilibrium, so it absolutely is normative to water.
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Interestingly enough, in other solvents a neutral pH is going to be a different value. IIRC, ammonia has an autoionization constant of 10^-30, so a neutral pH would be 15
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
By that definition, it can’t be exactly 7 then either. 10^-7 is just an estimate that we’ve agreed works fine. To my knowledge we haven’t really tried to improve this accuracy either?
21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 4 weeks ago
Right, whatever the midpoint was. It’s been a minute since my last chemistry class.