> >How does one measure the pH of a paper? I have a pH meter and
> >measuring the pH of a liquid is obvious. But how would I do it with
> >paper? Is a Cuisinart involved? Do I grind up the paper and mix it
> >with water at of a known pH?
> >
> >Thank you,
> >Kerik
> >
> Yes. You should by William Crawford's "The keepers of light". Page 140, you
> can read : "Weigh out one gram of paper, tear it up and place it in a
> beaker. Then mash it with a stirring rod in 20 ml of distilled or de-ionized
> water. Add 50 ml more water and cover the beaker. After one hour, stir the
> content and mesure the pH with the meter."
> You can get plenty of information in this book.
>
> Alain.
>
>
>
> ==============================
> gayster@micronet.fr (Alain GAYSTER)
> ==============================
>
Distilled water is acidic by nature of dissolved carbon dioxide forming
carbonic acid. 70 grams of mildly acidic water would have some effect on
the pH of one gram of paper, I would think, unless one only wants to know
whether the paper is simply acidic (residual acids from paper
manufacturing) or alkaline (such as buffered with calcium carbonate).
The point here is that if the paper were perfectly neutral (pH 7), after
soaking in distilled water for an hour you would get an acidic pH reading.
Don't believe everything you read.
John