Non-water pH 7

Name: Karen
Status: student
Grade: 9-12
Location: MN

Question: Are there any other substances with a PH of 7, besides distilled
water?
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    Yes, there are many. You can find the recipes in any chemical handbook.
You can also search the term "buffer solutions pH" or similar term. This
website (part 1) gives a brief theory of buffers:
http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biochem/Biochem_353/Buffer_Theory.html
Armed with those formulas you can see the number of possibilities.
    Note from the definition of buffer (a solution of salt + acid) or (a
solution of salt + base), water is not a buffer, or at least it has no
buffer capacity. The purpose of a buffer is to maintain a designated pH when
an acid or base is added to the solution. Pure water is a poor buffer
because it has no reservoir of H+ or OH- to keep the pH stable.

Vince Calder
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