pH is a measure of "potential Hydrogen". It has a an effect on how well plants absorb different nutrients. The rule of thumb is to keep the pH of your hydroponic nutrient solution at about 6.0 to 6.5.
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Q: OK, the first question has to be what's up with that weird and funky capitalization?
A: pH stands for "potential Hydrogen". The rules of capitalizing letters mean that the name of all the elements get capital letters for their first letter. So, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Tungsten, Hafnium, and Niobium all get capital letters.
Q: Niobium? Now, you're just making things up.
A: Niobium. Number 41 on the table of elements. So the deal is less that the "p" is a small letter and more that the "H" (which stands for Hydrogen) is a capital letter.
Q: Why is Hydrogen so important?
A: Hydrogen is a really basic atom. It has one Neutron, one Proton, and one Electron. If you remember, the electrons fly around the center of the atom called the neucleus. Sometimes, the electron flies off, this leaves what is called an ion or charged particle. When you have a Hydrogen atom that loses its electron, its as basic a positive ion as you can get. This positive ion goes around looking for one electron to capture to get back into balance. The ion doesn't care where it gets the electron from, it just wants to get back into balance.
For shorthand, the Hydrogen ion is written as "H+". This signifies that it is a Hydrogen ion and that it has a positive charge from one missing electron.
Q: What does this pH do?
A: pH is a measure of the concentration of Hydrogen ions. The scale ranges from 1 to 14, but the center of the scale at 7 is considered the neutral point. Between 1 and 7 is considered to be acidic and 7 to 14 is considered to be basic. The farther the number on the scale is, the more reactive it is.
Q: So, something with a pH of 1 is a stronger acid than something with a pH of 6?
A: Yes, and materials with a pH of 14 are just as reactive as materials with a pH of 1. Water is considered to have a pH of 7 where there are just as many positive and negetive ions. The negetive ions are made from a combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen. For shorthand, they are written as "OH-". If you put together one OH- with one H+ , you get HHO or written as H2O.
Q: H2O! That's water.
A: Right. The ions are out of balance and they are always looking to get together and form up into stable water.
