Tips for Teachers pH Scale
Macro Screen
Test the pH of everyday liquids to determine whether each is acidic, basic, or neutral.
EXPERIMENT
with everyday
liquids
MEASURE the
pH of the solution DILUTE solution
ADD liquid to the
beaker
DRAIN beaker
contents
Micro Screen
Experiment with everyday liquids and relate the pH to hydronium ion and hydroxide ion concentrations.
SWITCH
between
concentration
and moles
HIDE pH or
concentration to
make predictions
SWITCH DISPLAY the
between log and number of ions
linear display and water
scales molecules
Carpenter & Rouinfar, January 2023
My Solution Screen
Create your own liquid by directly manipulating pH or ion concentration. Visualize the relative number of
hydroxide ions and hydronium ions in solution.
DRAG H3O+ or ADJUST the pH
OH– sliders to directly; press
customize pH. and hold to
Changing one adjust quickly
slider
automatically
changes the
other.
CHOOSE ratio
view to see the
major ion in the
solution
Insights into Student Use
• A sliding scale is used to show concentration and quantity values instead of a traditional bar graph,
since the bar graph tended to cue students to compare the volumes of the bars. When shown a bar
graph students tended to describe one concentration as twice as large as another, when the values
were actually many orders of magnitude different.
• From having used indicators like litmus paper or pH paper, some students may think that the color of
the substance is related to pH; to address this idea, the My Solution screen shows a solution that
does not vary in color. Also, battery acid and drain cleaner have purposefully identical colors.
• Because the H3O+/OH— ion ratio is shown with dots, many students initially assume the dots
represent the actual number of ions in the beaker. Asking students to display and discuss the particle
count at the same time can help. Also, since the ion ratio is approximated to a linear relationship at
most pH values, the differences upon dilution or small changes in pH are dif cult to see. Asking
students to compare the ratio view across larger differences in pH elicits more interesting discussion
and helps students interpret this view.
Suggestions for Use
Sample Challenge Prompts
• Predict if the pH of your solution will increase or decrease after you add water. What about the
concentration of H3O+ ions?
• Describe two different ways you could ll the beaker with a solution with pH 6.00. Is it possible to use
hand soap to do this? Explain.
• Given only the solution pH, how would you estimate the concentration of H3O+ ions in a solution?
What about the concentration of OH– ions?
Carpenter & Rouinfar, January 2023
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Customization Options
Query parameters allow for customization of the simulation, and can be added by appending a '?' to the
sim URL, and separating each query parameter with a ‘&’. The general URL pattern is:
…html?queryParameter1&queryParameter2&queryParameter3
For example, in pH Scale, if you only want to include the 1st and 2nd screens (screens=1,2), with the
2nd screen open by default (initialScreen=2) use:
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/ph-scale/latest/ph-scale_all.html?screens=1,2&initialScreen=2
To run this in Spanish (locale=es), the URL would become:
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/ph-scale/latest/ph-scale_all.html?locale=es&screens=1,2&initialScreen=2
Indicates this customization can be accessed from the Preferences menu within the simulation.
Query Parameter and Description Example Links
autofill - when true, the dropper will auto ll autofill=false
the beaker to 0.50 L when switching solutes.
Default is true.
screens - speci es which screens are included in screens=1
the sim and their order. Each screen should be
separated by a comma. For more information, visit screens=2,1
the Help Center.
initialScreen - opens the sim directly to the initialScreen=1
speci ed screen, bypassing the home screen. initialScreen=3
locale - specify the language of the simulation locale=es (Spanish)
using ISO 639-1 codes. Available locales can be locale=fr (French)
found on the simulation page on the Translations
tab. Note: this only works if the simulation URL
ends in “_all.html”.
allowLinks - when false, disables links that allowLinks=false
take students to an external URL. Default is true.
supportsPanAndZoom - when false, disables supportsPanAndZoom=false
panning and zooming using pinch-to-zoom or
browser zoom controls. Default is true.
Model Simpli cations
• For liquids with a range of measured pH values, an average value from the literature was used.
• The simulation does not account for the different acid dissociation constants (Ka) for each liquid when
calculating the ion concentrations or the pH after dilution. We make the simpli cation that any increase
in the concentration of the major ion is due to the ions already present in the added water. For
example, if students add 100 mL of water to an acidic solution, then the number of moles of H3O+
increases by 1×10-8 mol. The concentration of the minor ion is then calculated using the self-ionization
constant for water (Kw). These calculations account for the leveling effect of water.
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• The ratios of ions have been simpli ed; the ion ratio varies logarithmically between pH 6-8, but is
approximated as a linear relationship outside of this range.
• The values displayed in the pH meter and graph indicators are rounded, so it may be possible for a
solution to display a pH of 7.00 without being neutral. (The displayed concentrations/quantities of H3O+
and OH– ions may not be equal.)
See all published activities for pH Scale here.
For more tips on using PhET sims with your students, see Tips for Using PhET.
Carpenter & Rouinfar, January 2023
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