pH Factor

Many of us know what is pH. we also know that it signifies the acidic/alkaline nature of a fluid and also that 0 indicates completely acidic and 14 indicates completely alkaline and 7 indicates neutral.

I can vouch that many of us, including yours truly, would know the above and just it. However, how many of us knew the significance of pH factor. (i can hear you saying, well yeah, one spends time writing a blog, it better be important huh? ;))

Just to reiterate, the jump on pH scale by a factor of 1, affects the concentration of hydrogen-ion by a logarithmic factor of 10 i.e. pH6 is 10 times more acidic than pH7 and ph5 is 100 times more acidic that of pH6.

Human Blood is strictly maintained at pH of 7.4, slightly alkaline. A swing either way by a factor of 0.2 is considered very serious and more than 0.5 is almost always fatal.

Cut over to a glass of Cola(yes you silly, Pepsi included). The pH of cola is of the order of 2.5. When one drinks a glass of cola, you need 32 glasses of alkaline water - not just regular water (which is set at pH 5.7 ) -to even neutralise the effect of drinking one single glass of cola.

People, find it so tough to drink even 8 glasses of 'doctor recommended water', let alone 32 MORE glasses of alkaline water for counter-acting the effect of drinking one glass of cola.

So, how does the body STILL maintain the blood pH level without causing serious damage to the system?.

The human body has a reserve of alkaline buffer. Buffer is made of Carbon Dioxide (C02) and Bicarbonate (HC03). Together they donate/bind, hydrogen-ions to regulate the pH level. This managing act is taken of care by the combo of lung & kidney.

This buffer however is 'limited'. So everytime, your blood pH level is regulated, you take some out your buffer. Sooner than later, one runs out of this buffer and you end up with high acidic condition in your blood which can lead to many deadly diseases like cancer and conditions like high blood pressure etc.

Yes, as much as I can unabashedly admit that I was not interested in chemistry, I can promise that i never heard anything even remotely close to this in any of my chemistry classes so far.

The next time you order that 'soda', think twice or even better order it with 32 glasses of alkaline water !

P.S : The human body is such a wonderful system that you can go on & on writing about it. Read this site for a bit more detail about how the pH in blood is regulated and functions of lung and kidney