At school as a child, perhaps you conducted experiments using something called litmus paper. This paper turns red when you put it on a lemon, which is acidic, and it turns blue if you soak it in alkaline soapy water. The indicator for acidity or alkalinity is known as the pH value. A pH value of 7 means a substance is neutral. A lower value indicates acidity, and a higher value is a sign of alkalinity. Lemon's pH value is 2.5, coffee is pH 5.0-6.5, milk is about 6.2, soapy water is about 7 to 10, and beer is about 4.5.
Did you know that the pH value is very closely related to our daily lives? For example, consider skin. Human skin's pH value is somewhere between 4.5 and 6. Newborn babies' skin is closer to neutral, but it quickly turns acidic. This is probably to protect young children's skin, since acidity kills bacteria. As people become older, the skin becomes more and more neutral, and won't kill as many bacteria as before. This is why the skin gets weak and starts having problems. The pH value goes beyond 6 when a person actually has a skin problem or a skin disease. This shows that it is necessary to choose cosmetics that have a pH value close to that of your own skin.
Additionally, almost all the food you eat is slightly acidic, probably also because of its natural bacteria-killing function.
Thus, the pH measurement is important not only in daily life, but also in various industries as an important measurement. The pH scale is measured without fail to improve the quality of products in the cosmetic, food, medical, and chemical industries.
It was HORIBA that invented the first pH meter in Japan. HORIBA's initial pH meter, invented by our current Supreme Counsel Masao Horiba when he was in school, has evolved in its more than 40 years of history. Our latest model of pH meter, featuring advanced, world-class technology, was introduced to the United States in March 1997.
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