What causes something to have a pH level? Can someone give me a molecular/atomic description?
let me describe to you the concept of pH. if you have pure water in a beaker, there are actually three components inside it, 1) liquid water (h2o) 2) hydronium ion (h3o+) 3) hydroxyl ion (oh-) the amounts of hydronium and hydroxyl are equal at around 1.8 parts per billion (very small) if you add impurities on it such as acid or base, the hydronium and hydroxyl concentration change also low pH acid means higher hydronium compared to hydroxyl high pH alkaline meand higher hydroxyl compared to hydronium The two are in equilibrium: the increase of one means decrease of the other. For enzymes, the availability of hydronium ion is very important.
