Pouvoir hydrogene

Because the ion concentrations are small and the negative exponents make them tedious to work with, Soren Peer Lau-ritz Sorenson (1868-1939), a Danish biochemist, devised the pH concept in 1909 to express the hydrogen ion concentration. The abbreviation pH comes from the French pouvoir hydrogene meaning power of hydrogen. The pH of a solution is given by the equation ... 

In 1909 the Danish biochemist S. P. L. Sorensen proposed that these exponents be used as a measure of acidity. Fie devised a scale that would be useful in testing the acidity of Danish beer. Sorensen s scale came to be known as the pFI scale, from the French, pouvoir hydrogene, which means hydrogen power. pH is defined as the negative logarithm (log) of the hydronium ion concentration. 

How do we figure out if a solution is acidic or basic In 1909, a Danish chemist, P. L. Sorensen, calculated the negative of the logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. He wrote this as 1 x 10"" with the pH equal to n. The name of the pH scale came from the French words for the power of hydrogen or pouvoir hydrogene. The pH scale measures the amount of acidity in a solution. 

Expressing acidity or basicity in terms of the concentration of H3O+ or OH can be cumbersome because the values tend to be very small. A more convenient quantity, called pH, also indicates the hydronium ion concentration of a solution. The letters pH stand for the French words pouvoir hydrogens, meaning "hydrogen power. The pH of a solution is defined as the negative of the common logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration, [H3O+]. The pH is expressed by the following equation. 

---