A student went to the dentist and found out that he had a cavity. He always brushes his teeth twice a day, so he didn't understand how he got a cavity. The dentist told him that drinking things every day that are acidic, such as lemonade, can contribute to cavities. He didn't drink lemonade but does drink a variety of other drinks.

The next day he brought in a sample of each drink and asked his science teacher to borrow a pH probe to test each liquid. The pH of Drink A is 11.9, Drink B is 7.0, Drink C is 5.3, Drink D is 9.8, Drink E is 2.4. Explain which drink(s) the student should avoid if he wants to protect his teeth from further damage.

In your response, be sure to include:

1. an explanation of what pH measures

2. which drinks are acidic, basic, and neutral.

Explanation:

The pH of :

     Drink A is 11.9

     Drink B is 7.0

     Drink C is 5.3

     Drink D is 9.8

     Drink E is 2.4

Since the student has been warned to stay clear off acidic drinks which causes damage to the enamel of his teeth, his pH test will clearly help him identify such drink.

The pH is a convenient scale for measuring the acidity or alkalinity of aqueous solutions. It is logarithmic scale graduated from 1 to 14:

  1                                              7                                                        14

                         ←                 neutral                              →

      acidity increases                                 alkalinity increases

The arrow head directions points towards the directions of increasing acidity and alkalinity.

Now, let us delineate the acidity, basicity and neutrality of the solutions;

     Drink A is 11.9       Basic

     Drink B is 7.0        Neutral

     Drink C is 5.3        Acidic

     Drink D is 9.8        Basic

     Drink E is 2.4         Acidic

The student should do well to avoid drinks that are acidic which are drink C and drink E respectively. Such drinks will deteriorate his teeth and cause cavity therein.