Ammonia is how many times more basic than milk? Tomato juice is how many times more basic than cola?

Question

how do you figure out how to solve these kinds of questions?

Answer 1

The pH of milk is 6.5, Ammonia is 11.5.

Neutral pH (water) is 7.0, bases are greater than 7.0 and acids are less than 7.0.

In the pH scale each increase of a whole number represents a factor of 10, thus something of pH 9 is 10 times as basic as something with a pH of 8.  The same principle exists in the opposite direction, so that something of ph 4 is 10 times more acidic than something of ph 5.

So, if milk is 6.5 and ammonia is 11.5, the difference is 5.0 (11.5 - 6.5), meaning that ammonia is 100,000 (10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10) times more basic than milk.

Tomato juice is about pH 4.5, and cola is about 3.5.  The difference is 1 (4.5 - 3.5) so tomato juice is 10 times more basic than cola.

Here is a reference link:

http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/fil...

Hope this helps!