Mrs. roberts, in a diabetic coma, has just been admitted to noble hospital. her blood ph indicates that she is in severe acidosis (low blood ph), and measures are quickly instituted to bring her blood ph back within normal limits. define ph and note the normal ph of blood. why is severe acidosis a problem?

Answer and explanation:

pH : It is a figure expressing the alkalinity or acidity of a solution on a logarithmic scale according to which 7 is considered neutral , below 7 is considered acidic while above 7 is considered alkaline. pH scale ranges from 0-14.

Normal pH of blood : The normal pH of blood ranges from 7.35 to 7.45 averaging 7.4.

Severe acidosis problem : Acidosis means high levels of acid in the body i-e decreased body pH thus causing an imbalance. Normally acid is removed either from lungs or kidneys. In the case of acidosis, both lungs and kidneys fail to remove excessive acid resulting in serious health problems. Due to severe acidosis respiratory centre in brain also becomes activated resulting in hyperventilation (faster and deeper breathing) in order to eliminate more carbondioxide gas in order to reduce acidity .