From the sourness of a lemon to the acid in your stomach and the slow chemical drift of the oceans, acidity is a single, simple idea — the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution — with consequences that reach into biology, medicine and the environment. This episode explains what makes something acidic or basic, why the pH scale is logarithmic rather than linear, and how the body and the planet both work hard to keep pH within liveable limits.

You'll come away understanding what a hydrogen ion is, why pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5, how buffers keep your blood pH stable, why acid rain and ocean acidification happen, and what neutralisation actually does.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

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