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pH of pure water


Advocate said, to begin this mess:  ...water in it's purest form is an acid.
I got curious, because pH, in the chemistry books I've seen, is defined by a
solution's H ion concentration.
  ...where pH = -log[H+]

I did find a source that said something similar to your statement, but
omitted the word 'pure':
http://moe.med.yale.edu/gta/acid-base/AB_Terms.html

Pure water has an equal number of H ions and OH ions...and, by definition
has a pH of 7.
http://moby.ucdavis.edu/spep-95/acid/acids.htm#Water

Check out the list of acids and the list of neutral solutions on this page:
http://pc65.frontier.osrhe.edu/hs/science/pacid.htm

He/she also said:  By definitions, substances are either "acids" or "bases."
PERIOD.

I wondered about that.  Are solutions *only* acids or bases?  Not according
to http://c.chem.ualberta.ca/~plambeck/che/p101/p01161.htm, which states,
"The pH of a solution made up by placing together species which react with
each other depends upon the species remaining in solution after the proton
transfers have taken place. These final solutions or equilibrium solutions
will be aqueous solutions of strong acids, weak acids, strong bases, weak
bases, amphiprotic substances, or acid-base buffer solutions."

Oh, and in case you're wondering...I *can* claim a BS degree, but not a
major or minor in Chemistry.

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