CG>I treated myself to a $6.74 acidty meter yesterday. You stick
...
CG>I stuck it in my brand new 2.5 litre cask of white vinegar,
CG>unmindful of the fact that I might actual damage a year's supply
CG>of acetic acid.  Whoopee! ph8.
Eight you say?  BZZZT!! Wrong! 8-) I hit bottom on a "no-name" 'Ph
tester'(scale of 4-10) and an 'AMI Instamatic' (scale of 3.5-9) - of
course I rubbed the probes with terrycloth first ('dirty' they read
5.5-6) - I'd guess about 3 by how hard they hit bottom. BTW 'baking
soda' (sodium bicarbonate) in water would bring them up to about 8.5 for
1/2 second and them drop down around 4 so they don't do so good with
alkalies 8-(.
Looking in a 1958 high-school Chemistry text ("Modern Chemistry" Dull,
Metcalf, & Williams) I find these approximations:
lemons                                 2.3
vinegar                                2.9
soft drinks                            3.0
apples                                 3.1
grapefruit                             3.1
oranges                                3.5
rainwater                              6.2
pure water                             7.0
eggs                                   7.8
baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)       8.4
seawater                               8.5
milk of magnesia                       10.5
washing soda (sodium carbonate)        11.6
lye                                    13.0
Hope this helps,
Laird
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