pH, always pH

[rlederer]

I hope I'm not being too academic here but I'd like to offer an explanation as to why pH is always pH, not PH, ph, or Ph. The symbols come from the German phrase potenz hydrogen, which refers to the concentration of hydrogen ions. Since chemical elements are always capitalized, it is always pH, even at the beginning of a sentence.

I'm sure everyone knows the pH scale goes from 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral and anything below being acid and above being alkaline. pH is on a log scale, which means that going from a pH of 7 to a pH of 6 means that a solution of 6 is ten times as acidic as 7.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Autumnsky]

Great thing to know why.

 

[Delapool]

Very handy!