The pH of a solution is a measure of its ratio of hydrogen atoms to hydroxide radicals, which are molecules composed of one oxygen and one hydrogen atom.
Why do we write it as pH why not PH?
FWIW here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:
The concept of pH was first introduced by the Danish chemist Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen at the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1909[4] and revised to the modern pH in 1924 to accommodate definitions and measurements in terms of electrochemical cells. In the first papers, the notation had the "H" as a subscript to the lowercase "p", as so: pH.
The exact meaning of the "p" in "pH" is disputed, but according to the Carlsberg Foundation, pH stands for "power of hydrogen".[5] It has also been suggested that the "p" stands for the German Potenz (meaning "power"), others refer to French puissance (also meaning "power", based on the fact that the Carlsberg Laboratory was French-speaking). Another suggestion is that the "p" stands for the Latin terms pondus hydrogenii (quantity of hydrogen), potentia hydrogenii (capacity of hydrogen), or potential hydrogen. It is also suggested that Sørensen used the letters "p" and "q" (commonly paired letters in mathematics) simply to label the test solution (p) and the reference solution (q).[6] Currently in chemistry, the p stands for "decimal cologarithm of", and is also used in the term pKa, used for acid dissociation constants.[7]
Thanks Prof Manner,
I quite agree with your submission sir. The lowercase 'p' in power should have been written as uppercase P and the 'H' written as uppercase H to obtain uppercase 'PH' instead of pH (lowercase p and uppercase H).
Prof., thanks once again.
The pH is defined as the negative logarithm of the activity (concentration) of hydrogen ions in a solution.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
- Atoms