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TIL that the exact meaning of the letter “p” in the pH scale is unknown because the inventor never bothered to explain what it stood for. (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

(Not sure if the humour went over my head and I'm explaining something that wasn't meant to be taken seriously. If it is humour, then I imagine it's because knowing what the H stands for is a lot less exciting than knowing what the p stands for. If it isn't humour, you may read the following words.)

Because that's what it measures. It measures the amount of H⁺ ions (which are simply protons if we are talking about protium which is the most common hydrogen isotope) by volume on a logarithmic scale.