pH

[Emily Tieu 2K]

Professor Lavelle mentioned a few factors that don't affect pH (such as group 1&2 on the periodic table, halogens, etc...) but what factors do alter pH?

[Izamary Marquez 2H]

Also,s hould we memorize which of these groups in particular affect pH? Or is there a general rule we can apply?

[Elena Chen 2E]

pH measures the concentration of hydronium (H30+) in a solution, so anything that adds or takes away from the hydronium concentration will affect the pH.

I believe when Prof Lavelle talks about certain elements that don't affect a solution's pH, he's referring to a salt that has either the cation of a strong base (such as some elements from groups 1&2) or the anion of a strong acid (such as most halogens) that's been dissolved into the solution. Because those ions are from a strong acid/base, they will dissociate completely and therefore not affect the pH.

Also, I think we're just supposed to memorize the list of strong acids and bases, and everything else we can assume is a weak acid/base.