When I was growing in an outdoor room at the house @FullDuplex was teaching me about PH-ing and bubbling my water. Air pump.
I set up a 10 gallon bin of water...with an air pump in.
PH is affected by heat and light.
If I PH'd the water in the morning...when it had been stood in the dark and the cold overnight..it gave one reading.
If I PH'd the SAME WATER in the afternoon...after daylight and warmth there could be as much as a full PH point difference.
It was the same water.
...two completely different PH readings.
You owned a pH meter?!? ......
(he said and then ducked the right cross that came instantly after)...
There a couple things going on with this... Setting aside the influence of CO2 and any CaCO3 hardness--->
Most basically, the higher the T, the more H2O dissociates into H+ + OH- ..... but this is only a very very small amount doing this...
That full point difference is mostly all margin of error and inherent inaccuracy of the device itself,... here's a chart to give perspective -->
.... recall that pH is a logarithmic scale, meaning a jump of 1.0 point is a 10x difference +/-...
Here's one for how CO2 acidifies water....
>> And then there's what CaCO3 does: CaCO3 <-->
Ca++ +
CO3-- ... CO3-- will snag a free H+ instantly if it can, and that removal of the H+ ion
lowers the acidity...*edit*
-poorly put, better said it reduces the acidity...
>> Temp also affects how much gas can dissolve into water; the higher the T, the less gas can stay in solution (think warm soda can getting opened vs. cold)
>> pure water has no pH buffering mineral in it (CaCO3), it's more readily influenced by CO2 acidification....
>> light itself has no direct effect on pH, but direct
sunlight (and the infrared/heat in it) can warm the water of course, and the color of the container affects heat absorption too....
>>> pH meters can be touchy devices; that electrode bulb can be damaged easily, dirtied-up, etc., all affect it's accuracy... Not stored right in a proper solution, let to dry out for a long period of time also screws with this. Regular calibration is necessary, otherwise one is really rolling the dice on readings!
Calibration is super easy, most basic units have a mode to do this, all you need are the standard solutions to put it in -
As canna' growers, 4.0 and 7.0 are what's needed mainly, 10.0 I find isn't necessary but
technically to dial in the reading best, it is with most decent meters... The more sophisticated and higher resolution the meter is, the more this 3 point calibration is necessary...
I don't bother, and my olde HM brand pH meter is still a solid reader after all these years!
Maybe @Waira would like to put his 2 cents in here, I know he knows, that I know my shit!
I do!
..... don't think
was being a wise-ass doubter but I can see why it came off like it... he doesn't roll that way though, I know him well enough from years here...
great to see ya about mate, BTW! Happy Holidays -
.... now alas, it's time to get to work....
... strangely reading today that the trots might be the new COVID variant symptoms....
....
nutritionstudies.org
