INTRODUCTION

Many substances can be considered as an acid or

a base. Acids were first recognized for their sour
taste while bases, sometimes called alkalis, are
characterized by their bitter taste and slippery
feel. [1]
According to the Arrhenius concept of acids and
bases, acids produce hydrogen ions in aqueous
solution, while bases produce hydroxide ions.
While this is a major step in quantifiying acidbase chemistry, a more general definition was
given by the Bronsted-Lowry model which states
that an acid is a proton (H +) donor, and a base is
a proton acceptor. [1]
Strong acids are capable of dissociating
completely into releasing their protons in dilute
aqueous solutions, whereas weak acids only
undergo partial dissociation that may amount to
less than 1% of the acid ionized to yield protons.
Strong bases have a great capacity for accepting
protons whereas weak bases are poor acceptors
of protons. [2]
Since weak acids dissociate only to a small extent
in dilute aqueous solutions, the concentration of
H+ in dilute solutions of these acids is small.
Frequently, the concentration of hydrogen ions in
solutions of weak acids is less than 10-6 mol/L. It
can be somewhat inconvenient mathematically to
work with values of this small magnitude. To
permit easier handling of such low values of [H +],
the Danish chemist Soren Peder Lauritz Sorensen
proposed in 1909 that [H+] be expressed
logarithmically as follows: [2]
pH = -log10H

A pH scale helps in measuring how acidic or basic

a substance is. The pH scale is logarithmic. The
meaning of the "p" in "pH" is unknown. Some
references indicate that it stands for "power"
while some others refer to the German Potenz
which means "power". Some others refer to the
French puissance which again means "power".
This meaning is based on the fact that the
Carlsberg Laboratory was French-speaking. There
are still others that refer to "potential". [3]
Nowadays, the term pH refers to a measure of
the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.
Solutions with low concentrations of H+ ions have
a high pH, while solutions with a high
concentration of hydrogen ions have a low pH.
Therefore, pH is also used as a measure of the
acidity or basicity of a solution. [4]

In accordance with the study of pH, there must

be an understanding with its correlation with
biological systems. All living things are waterbased systems, which means that they depend
heavily on aqueous equilibria, especially acidbase equilibria. Therefore, the study of pH is
relevant in various areas concerning biological
processes such as the study of proton dissociable
groups, which are found in macromolecules (such
as proteins), maintenance of the pH of the cell
environment, and also in experiments such as
biological enzymatic assays which require a
certain pH. [5]
Most biological systems cannot withstand large
changes in pH. To be able to adjust to changes in
pH, most organisms, including humans, have an
innate buffer system, which compensates for
changes in pH. [6]
Buffers are substances that minimize changes in
concentrations of ions i.e. either H+ ions or OHions. A buffer solution is a solution which resists
changes in pH and whose pH is not altered to any
great extent by the addition of small quantities of
either strong acid (H+ ions) or a strong base (OH
ions). An acidic buffer is composed of a weak acid
(HA) and its conjugate base (A ) or a weak acid
and the salt of the weak acid and a strong base.
A basic buffer is composed of a weak base (B)
and its conjugate acid (BH+) or a weak base and
the salt of the weak base and a strong acid.
Examples of buffers in the human biological
system are the bicarbonate buffer in blood, the
phosphate buffer in internal cell fluids, and the
protein buffer in somatic cells and tissues. [6]
For buffers, the HendersonHasselbalch equation
relates the pH of the solution to the pK of an acid
and the ratio of the concentrations of the acid
and its conjugate base. [7] The equation is also
useful for estimating the pH of a buffer solution
and finding the equilibrium pH in acid-base
reactions. [8] The equation is given by:

Here, [HA] is the molar concentration of the

undissociated weak acid, [A] is the molar
concentration (molarity, M) of this acid's
conjugate base and pKa is log10 Ka where Ka is
the acid dissociation constant, that is:

That is, for the non-specific Brnsted acid-base

reaction:

Because pH is dependent on ionic activity, a

property which cannot be measured easily or
fully predicted theoretically, it is difficult to
determine an accurate value for the pH of the
solution. The pH reading of a solution is usually
obtained using a pH meter or pH indicator
paper/liquid.
In this experiment regarding pH measurement
and buffer preparation, the objectives include the
1) preparation of different buffer solutions; 2)
determination of pH of the buffers and samples
colorimetrically using different liquid indicators
and electrometrically using the pH meter; and 3)
calculation of buffer capacity of the prepared
buffer solutions. [7]

REFERENCES (INTRODUCTION)
[1] Hummel, T., Zumdahl, S., & Zumdahl, S.
(2012). Student solutions manual [to
accompany]. Bellmont, CA: Brooks/Cole,
CENGAGE Learning.
[2] Cecil, J.R. (1995). Basic Biochemical
Laboratory Procedures and Computing
with Principles, Review Questions, Worked
Examples, and Spreadsheet Solutions. (1st
ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Pages 40-65.

[3] Cursetjeer, Ardaseer (2004, March). Soren

Sorensen Introduces pH scale. Retrieved
from
http://humantouchofchemistry.com/soren
-sorensen-introduces-the-ph-scale.htm.
[4] Bursten, B.E., Brown, T.L., LeMay, H.E.
(2004). Chemistry: The Central Science.
9th ed.Singapore: Pearson Education Inc.
[5] University of California (n.d.) Biological
Applicxations of pH. Retrieved from
https://groups.chem.ubc.ca/courseware/p
H/section19/index.html.
[6] Latif, Waqas (April 2013) Importance of
Buffers in Physiological, Natural and
Industrial
Systems.
Retrieved
from
http://environmentalrealm.blogspot.com/2012/04/importanceof-buffers-in-physiological.html
[7] Crisostomo,
A.C.,
et.
al.
(2010).
Laboratory
Manual
in
General
Biochemistry. Quezon City: C & E
Publishing, Inc. Pages 1-4.
[8] Larsen,
D.
"Henderson-Hasselbalch
Approximation". Chemwiki. University of
California. Retrieved 27 March 2014.