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Is water an acid or a base? (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Water is the definition of 7.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

Also I’m pretty sure it’s only coincidentally 7. The calculation for pH isn’t based on any property of water.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

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 H+ at 298K, IIRC. So perturbations naturally just displace that specific equilibrium, so it absolutely is normative to water.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day 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

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