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Can pH have negative values?

The pH of a solution is a measure of the molar concentration of hydrogen ions in the


solution and as such is a measure of the acidity or basicity of the solution. The
letters pH stand for "power of hydrogen" and numerical value for pH is just the
negative of the power of 10 of the molar concentration of H+ ions.

The usual range of pH values encountered is between 0 and 14, with 0 being the
value for concentrated hydrochloric acid (1 M HCl), 7 the value for pure water
(neutral pH), and 14 being the value for concentrated sodium hydroxide (1 M
NaOH). It is possible to get a pH of -1 with 10 M HCl, but that is about a practical
limit of acidity. At the other extreme, a 10 M solution of NaOH would have a pH of
15.

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