ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by bases,

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which are vital in any good game of hide and seek.

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And they're important to science, too. Just not as fun.

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All right. A solution with equal concentrations of hydrogen ions

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and hydroxide ions should have a pH of what?

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pH, not "fff."

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And here are the potential answers.

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All right, so what's going on here? Well, let's see.

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We've got hydrogen ions, or H+,

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hydroxide ions, or OH-,

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and "fff" level. pH level.

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All right, well, that's great. What does it all mean?

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We're talking about our old friends acids and bases.

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Or at least that's how we like to think of 'em.

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Acids are chemicals that have a lot of hydrogen ions,

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symbolized by H+, and bases are chemicals that have a lot of hydroxide ions,

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symbolized by OH-, like that.

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The pH scale is a measurement of the concentration

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of these ions. And it runs from zero to 14.

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The lower the number, the more acidic the substance is,

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meaning it has more hydrogen ions. The higher the number,

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the more base the substance is, meaning it has more hydroxide ions.

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Got it? Well, if there is an

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equal concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions,

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then the pH level would be seven, since that's

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right in the middle of the scale. So option C - seven is the correct answer.

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Now that we know the answer, we can move on to more important matters,

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by which we mean ready or not, here we come.

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