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Humans come in contact with acids and bases all the time-when cooking,
contain citric acid and sodas are loaded with carbonic acid which is made when carbon dioxide combines with the water in your body. If you combine vinegar with baking soda a chemical reaction occurs with lots of fizzing and foaming that result from the interaction between the acid (vinegar) and the base (baking soda).
There are also acids in the human body. Hydrochloric acid is in your stomach and is used to digest food. The stomach acid has to be kept away from the rest of the body because it is very harsh and can cause serious damage. The lining of the stomach is especially built to survive an acidic environment.
The pH scale is used to classify substances as acids and bases. The scale goes from 0 to 14. Things that are acids have a pH number that is less than
Water is made of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom. When water breaks apart, it can form hydrogen ions (H+) or hydroxide ions (OH-). Solutions are classified as acids or bases depending upon what kinds of ions they release. Acid solutions have lots of hydrogen ions present and basic solutions have lots of hydroxide ions present. For example, stomach acid has a pH of 2 or 3, which means that it is very acidic and has lots of hydrogen ions. The pH outside of your stomach is much closer to neutral. Most of the cells in living things cannot live in the presence of a strong acid. That is why it is important that the stomach acid stays in the stomach. The cells in the stomach lining replace themselves continually because it is a rough environment in which to live.
One of the easiest ways to measure the pH of a substance is to us a pH indicator. Litmus is a paper coated with an indicator that turn red in an acid and blue in a base. Other pH indicators have a whole range of colors-one for every number on the pH scale. There are also pH indicators that can be found in nature. The juice produced by boiling red cabbage is useful for determining pH. A very acidic solution will turn red cabbage juice red. Neutral solutions appear purple and basic solutions turn a greenish-yellow when cabbage juice is added.
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