What is the pH scale and how is it relevant to cleaning?
The pH scale is a logarithmic scale which measures acidity and basicity of a substance. The scale generally ranges from 0-14, although there are some substances with numbers outside these amounts. Acidic substances have a pH less than 7, and basic substances have a pH more than 7. Pure water is considered a neutral substance (neither acidic or basic) and has a pH of 7. RapidAll also has a pH of 7. The most important thing to know about a pH scale is that it is logarithmic scale of base 10. This means that the difference in pH between something that is pH of 1 and something that is pH of 2, is really a factor of 10. As an example, concentrated hydrochloric acid has a pH of 1, whereas water has a pH of 7. This means that hydrochloric acid is 1,000,000 times more acidic than water. Many cleaners advertise a neutral pH when really they may range anywhere from pH 4 to pH 11. A pH of 11 is 10,000 times more caustic than distilled water (and RapidAll). Conventional cleaners rely on the basic
