What is the purpose of the pH test?
A. The pH test provides additional information about the sample. Specifically, materials that may contain dangerous bioterrorism agents are likely to be of neutral pH. (A neutral pH does NOT mean a bioterrorism agent is necessarily present, only that further testing may be needed if the protein test is positive). A neutral pH will not cause a color change in the pH Solution. In addition, a change in color to reddish pink indicates the presence of an acidic material. Acidic materials may cause the protein test to fail so the pH test can assist in explaining the performance of the protein test. In actual field tests, the vast majority of substances tested had a neutral pH.
