Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

Dirty Little Secrets of pH – Part 1

© Copyright 2009
by Dahni

The technical definition of pH is defined as the co-logarithm of the activity of dissolved hydrogen ions (H⁺). A similar definition is that pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. pH balancing is achieved by understanding the pH scale. The pH scale is very similar to the Richter magnitude scale, in measuring the strength of earthquakes. As the numbers 1-10 rise, the strength of the earthquake rises expotentially. The pH scale measures from 0 -14:

Pure water has a pH of 7.0. Not all water is pure! The lower the number falls below 7, the more acidic the solution. The higher the number raises above 7 the more alkaline the solution. As examples, liquid drain cleaner with a pH of 14, is 10,000,000 more alkaline than pure water at 7, and battery acid with a pH of 1, is 10,000,000 millions times more acidic than pure water. The farther the distance to the left or to right of pure water at 7 on the pH scale, the stronger the solution is, acidic or alkaline.

Almost everyone has read some pH rating on shampoo and other cleansing or cosmetic product. We bathe to remove acids in the form of soils, oils etc. To do this, we use alkalies. Just as battery acid can burn skin and cause damage, high alkaline substances can burn and cause damage as well. When the proportions of acids and alkalies are correct, this is called pH balancing, when the alkaline forces the acid and the result is close to a 7 (pure water), as possible.

Flasbback To Vacuum Cleaners

Remember when this series began and we were talking about vacuum cleaners? Many of these were heavy and bulky. Some people believe that vacuuming may not be a good idea for a woman that is pregnant as the vibration and repeated motion may be harmful to the womn’s pelvic region. Don’t know if that is true, but if it is, sorry guys, you might have to do the vacuuming.

Anyway, there were several vacuum cleaner models marketed to do just about everything. They would tout their engineering strengths and talk about reputation. One was even made by a company which also made fire engines and equipment, so surely they must be trusted. After all the hype and sales pitches; all the fancy and cool demonstrations, what was the bottom line? Did they work? Yes and no. Yes many of these models had incredible suction. One was so powerful it could hold itself up on your wall. Others could pick up a bunch of heavy steel balls. Impressive, but no Jedi. 🙂

Besides all of that, do you really have steel balls you need to vacuum out of your carpets? Do you need a machine that will walk the dog, polish your silver; your shoes and everything else? Or do you just need a vacuum cleaner with balanced; efficient suction and airflow, to remove the dirt from your stuff?

The fact of the matter is, you need suction and airflow to successfully remove the ‘heavy dirt‘ from carpet. Gravity pulls stuff down right? As we walk on the carpet, this stuff gets pushed further and further down, making it harder and harder to clean. Airflow and agitation is to separate the fibers so the suction call pull out the dirt. You can have all the suction in the world, but without airflow and agitation, the dirt goes deeper and deeper into the carpet.

Edge cleaning was not always the best and people started noticing areas in places like closets that seemed stained and they rarely went there. Dirt seemed to stain areas underneath doorways and they call this ‘dirt filtration.’ The only least costly, reasonable thing to do at this point, was to have your carpets ‘sucked’ by a ‘rug sucker.’

I know (you are wondering), what does this have to do with pH balancing right? Hang on, we’re getting there.

WOW, this stuff is really getting dirty! We are not done. There is much more to come and more ‘Dirty Little Secrets‘ to share next time.

 

 

 

 

Dirty Dahni

Chapter 12