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keith_nuttle keith_nuttle is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 14
Default Oceans turning acidic Accuracy of the pH measurement

I was in the laboratory measuring pH when I read the article published
on the increasing pH because of global warming.

If you read the original article you would see that the difference in pH
they are talking about is in the neighborhood of 0.03 pH units. This is
insignificant and does not indicative anything except the precision of
the pH measurement and the sampling. Since the difference is the
precision of the measurements there is nothing to do with global warming.

pH is a theoretical amount of Hydrogen molecules in the solutions. In
practice pH is a measure of the impurities in water, and is
significantly affected by the temperature of the solution. It is also
affected by the actual materials in the solutions as the the amount of
Hydrogen ions are affected by the interactions of the compounds in the
solutions.

pH is measured using the electrical properties of the solution. Because
of the quality of the electronics the precision of the measurements are
several powers more accurate than the precision of the chemical
properties that are being measured.

The electronics are standardized against two reference solutions. The
accuracy of these solutions is about +/- 0.01 based on the suppliers of
the standards. See a typical specification sheet for one of those
standards is at

http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/pr...sp?sku=0594242

In practice the precision of laboratory measurements of pH is about +/-
0.03 one one sample. When you take dozens of samples there is
additional error. So you can see the differences they are trying to get
funding to study is nothing but the precision of the measurement of the
pH. (If you google you can find many papers on the laboratory precision
of pH measurements.)

Because of the inaccuracy in pH, the specifications for the drugs you
take are usually stated to 0.1 pH units.

Now, if someone can explain to me how they can say there is a 0.4 degree
change in the mean temperature of the earth when the daily temperature
difference across the surface of the earth is about 100 degrees. I don't
know much about temperature reading and statistics.


scbafreak via BoatKB.com wrote:
yes, they had to find some other "threat"



I'm Curious. Who are "They" and what could "They" possibly have to gain
from making this stuff up?