Today is

By: Ikedi Ani-okoye.

Carbonic acid explained

Carbonic acid (ancient name acid of air or aerial acid) has the formula H2CO3. It is also a name sometimes given to solution of carbon dioxide in water, which contain small amounts of H2CO3. The salts of carbonic acids are called bicarbonates (or hydrogencarbonates) and carbonates. It is a weak acid. Carbonic acid should not be confused with carbolic acid, an antiquated name for phenol.

Carbonic Acid and Carbon dioxide

This carbon dioxide is critical for keeping the pH [A chemical measure of how much acid is in our body fluids] at a safe level. Our pH is the ratio of bicarbonate to carbonic acid, which are both forms of carbon dioxide. The level of your carbonic acid depends on the amount of carbon dioxide that is in the alveoli of your lungs. If the carbon dioxide level drops [or rises] too much it can make fatally large changes to your pH.

Breathing and Carbon acid

Deep breathing increases both the amount of fully oxygenated red blood cells, and the release of the waste product, carbon dioxide. If not eliminated through proper respiration, carbon dioxide chemically changes into carbonic acid. Accumulated carbonic acid must be filtered by the kidneys, taxing the body’s vital energy (Prana in the yogic tradition, Ching Chi in the Chinese, Ki in Japanese). We may not give notice to the breath but find ourselves feeling chronically tired, irritated, hurried or anxious, thereby shadowing all our daily activities.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a gaseous waste product made from metabolism. The blood carries carbon dioxide to your lungs, where it is exhaled. Your kidneys and lungs balance the levels of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, and carbonic acid in the blood.

CONCLUSION

Carbon dioxide dissolves in water to form carbonic acid which has a pH of less than 7 so pH will tend to fall when carbon dioxide is high. This is what happens during the night with a reversal during daylight hours.There is some quite complex chemistry involved here which I will ignore save to point out that pond pH should ideally be around 7.0 to 8 but don't panic if it is 8.5.

In practice this means that measuring pH can give very erroneous results depending upon time the sample is taken. If you do like to measure water properties then do this on a continuous basis at the same time every day and keep a graph of results so you can monitor changes. Individual results can be quite misleading.