Importance of pH in Our Daily Life

Importance of pH in Our Daily Life

pH AND PLANTS

Plants require a specific pH of the soil for their proper growth. Plants cannot grow in too alkaline or too acidic soils. Therefore, for proper cultivation of crops it is important to have knowledge of the pH of the soil. If the soil is too acidic then its pH can be raised by adding lime (or slaked lime) which neutralizes the excess acid in the soil.

pH IN OUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

The medium in our stomach is highly acidic and has pH around 1.2. Our stomach produces hydrochloric acid which helps in digestion of food. Sometimes the stomach produces too much hydrochloric acid. Excess acid in the stomach causes pain and irritation. It can also cause ulcers in the digestive system. The condition of excess acid in the stomach is referred to as hyperacidity. In order to treat hyperacidity, a patient is advised to take antacid tablets or antacid suspensions. The antacid preparations contain some mild base such as magnesium hydroxide as the active component which neutralizes the excess acid in the stomach and thus controls the pH in the stomach.

Mg(OH)₂ + 2HCl à MgCl₂ + 2H₂O

pH AND TOOTH DECAY

Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in our body. It is made up of calcium tetraoxophosphate(V). It does not dissolve in water and mildly acidic solutions. However, it gets corroded slowly when pH in the mouth is below 5.5. When we eat food, some food particles remain sticking to the teeth. Bacteria present in the mouth produce acid by the degradation of sugar and food particles present in the mouth. This results in lowe1ing of pH in the mouth which promotes tooth decay. In order to prevent tooth decay avoid eating sugary foods. The mouth should be cleaned after eating food. Cleaning the teeth using toothpastes also helps in preventing tooth decay. Toothpastes are generally basic, therefore, they neutralize the excess acid in the mouth and thus prevent tooth decay.

The knowledge of pH also helps us in maintaining the proper acidity in many products such as shampoos, medicines, etc. pH of rain water can be used to detect the extent of certain pollutant gases in the atmosphere.

Importance of pH in Everyday Life

                    

There are various things that are required by the human beings in the day to day functioning of the human body. 

There are vital organs in the human body that carry out various important functions. 

There are enzymes and chemical substances called the hormones also present. 

The hormones are used for coordination between the various functions in the human body and for a better balancing of these chemicals the advent of pH is very important. 

There is lot of importance of pH in everyday life of an human being. This concept has to be clearly understood in order to proceed further. 

There is range of value of pH within the human body works. There are certain terms called acid indicator and base indicator. 

They have to be studied in order to understand the concept of pH. 

They are basically used to know how the water in the swimming pool is safe for us or why the food we eat everyday is not going to have an adverse effect on us. 

The value of the pH for the human body is in the range of 7 to 7.8. This range shows the importance of pH in everyday life which makes an important statement about the kind of environment we would like to be in. 

The pH of the rain water could also be measured and it is experimentally found that most of the rainfall for the first 10 -15 minutes is acidic in nature. 

If the value of the pH is found to be less than the value 5.6 then the rain is thought to be acidic. Acidic rains is highly damaging in nature. The acidic rain effect is evident for architectural marvel of the world the Taj Mahal. The main cause of this is the Mathura Oil refinery and many of the factories that has come up in the vicinity of Taj.

The air in the surrounding areas are polluted and are filled with gaseous particles responsible for such type of rain. This type of rain could cause damage to the crops as well and change the pH of crop field soil profile.

Even in our digestive system, particularly the stomach, contains digestive juices or acids that help in the process of digestion and since the process of digestion is very important one the pH plays a big role in maintaining the neutral atmosphere of the stomach.

During this process of digestion a lot of acids are also secreted in the stomach. These acids if not neurtralised on time could damage the inner linings of the stomach and food pipe as well. 

To neutralize the acids that are produced, some bases needs to be added. These bases are taken externally in the form of tablets and syrups which are basically nothing but diluted form alkaline suspension like milk of magnesia. 

So, the importance of pH in everyday life is immense. The presence of pH in mouth is also important. This pH value is roughly around 5.5. 

Once the food is taken in and pushed through food pipe there are still some particles of food remaining in the mouth cavity. 

The bacteria present in the mouth starts breaking down these food particles and while doing so produce acids which usually damage the teeth or trigger the teeth decay teeth.

The human teeth are made up of a material that is the hardest in nature, and is not corroded by any substance. But when these teeth are exposed to the acids generated by the bacteria they are prone to tooth decay. 

This can be prevented if one is a bit careful. Wash and rinse mouth thoroughly after taking food. Mouth wash could also be used. The teeth can be brushed twice a day and this helps a lot in preventing the tooth decay. 

In order to neutralise the effect of mouth cavity acid build up the tooth pastes are found to be basic in nature.