Question

An acid with a pH of 2 is ________ times stronger than an acid with a pH of 6.

		100
		10,000
		1,000
		10
		100,000

Answer 1

pH or the potential for hydrogen is a scale used to specify how acidic or basic an aqueous solution is. pH is defined as the negative of the base 10 logarithm of the activity of the hydrogen ion. Since it is a negative base 10 log, a solution with a pH of 2 would be ten times stronger than a solution of pH 3, and 100 times stronger than a solution of pH 4. Chemically this just means that the molar concentration of hydrogen ions that can be potentially liberated in a solution of pH 2 is ten times more than which can be liberated by a solution of pH 3. So by extension of this insight, we can see that a solution of pH 2 would be 10,000 times stronger in its ability to liberate hydrogen ions as compared to a solution of pH 6 (the power of 10 can be computed by the difference between the two numbers on the scale. Here 6-2 =4, so the solution of pH 2 would be a 10⁴ times stronger acid than the solution of pH 6). Hence option B) 10,000 is the correct answer for this question.

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