First, let’s get the basics straight. pH stands for “potential of Hydrogen,” which sounds like a term from a sci-fi movie. In reality, it’s just a scale from 0 to 14 that measures how acidic or alkaline a liquid is. A 7 is totally neutral—like pure water, which is the Switzerland of the chemical world.
Anything below 7 is an acid. Think lemon juice or the stomach acid that helps you digest that questionable gas station burrito. Anything above 7 is a base, like baking soda or your grandma’s ammonia-based cleaning spray that could probably strip paint off a car.
