Universidad de las Américas Puebla

pH Measurement

Instrumentation and signal processing

Dr. Rubén Alejos Palomares

LMT3041-1

Name: Jesús Alfredo López Miranda - ID: 157913

Team #13
Introduction

The pH measurement, also known as the hydrogen potential, is an instrument used to measure
the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. This measurement describes the degree of acidity or
alkalinity and is measured on a scale ranging from 0 to 14 in different colors as shown in Figure
1. The number zero represents the most acidic reading and the 14 represents a more alkaline
reading , while the number 7 represents pure water that is completely neutral. PH is defined as
the negative base 10 logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity: 𝑝𝐻 = −𝑙𝑜𝑔10 (𝑎𝐻 )

Figure 1. pH measurement

For acids, they have the ability to dissolve many materials and are on the pH scale of 0 to 7 and
for alkalis they tend to be viscous or slippery and can decompose, they are normally used for
cleaning and are on the pH scale with a value of 7.5 to 14.

Normally, the ph is an instrument that can be used in our daily life:

1. Skin care: The pH of the skin is approximately 5.5 on average, varying slightly from
one area to another of the body. For this value it is possible to maintain it thanks to the
sweat and sebum that mix on the body surface giving this pH. On the other hand, we
must remember that for the good condition of the skin and hair it is very important to
maintain it without causing large variations.
 2. Crops: The pH of the nutrient solution in contact with the roots can affect plant growth
in two main ways:
● Nutrient availability: In order for the root system to absorb the various nutrients,
they must obviously be dissolved. Extreme pH values can cause the
precipitation of certain nutrients, thus remaining in a form not available to
plants.
● The physiological process of absorption of nutrients by the roots: if the
deviation in pH values is extreme, the root system may be deteriorated or
toxicities due to excessive absorption of aluminum may occur.
3. Caring for a swimming pool: The optimal pH for swimming pool water should be in
the range 7.2-7.8, where fortunately chlorine has its greatest effectiveness.
4. Agriculture and soils: Soil pH is generally considered adequate in agriculture if it is
between 6 and 7. In some soils, even with a natural pH of 8, good agricultural yields
can be obtained. In most cases, high pHs are indicators of the presence of soluble salts,
so it would be necessary to resort to the use of cultures adapted to saline environments.
Similarly, a very acidic pH turns out to be another limiting factor for the development
of cultivars. Similarly, sulfur compounds are sometimes applied with a view to raising
the pH of strongly acidic soils.
5. In the blood: the most important function of the pH in the blood is that the enzymatic
activity only occurs adequately at certain pHs, and the enzymatic activity intervenes in
absolutely all metabolic processes.

In laboratories, there is a sensor that is used to measure the pH of a solution and it is the pH
meter or potentiometer, which is an instrument that measures the potential difference between
two electrodes: a silver electrode and a glass electrode which is sensitive to the hydrogen ion.
This can only be applied to substances in a liquid state because the sensors used only react
under such conditions. The most important thing is to define from the beginning what need is
sought to be covered, and what will be the utility for which the pH meter is required. Once
defined, the instrument that best suits the work to be performed is chosen.

Identification of problem to resolve

The Nernst equation is used to calculate the reduction potential of an electrode outside of
standard conditions. In the Nernst equation it tells us that:
 2.303𝑅𝑇
0
𝐸𝑔 = 𝐸𝑔 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔 (𝑎)
𝐹

Where Eg represents the difference in voltage, Eg0 is the constant in millivolts (Eg0 = 420
mV) when a=1 (E), F represents the Faraday constant, T is the absolute temperature, R is the
gas constant, “a" is the activity of the hydrogen ion, and that of 2,303 is the logarithm
conversion factor.

But the question is: how to get the pH measurement?

Methodology for the development of the project.

First, it was found that the Ph=-log(a), then cleared -log(a) to obtain the expression that defined
the pH:

(𝐸𝑔 − 𝐸𝑔0 )𝐹
𝑝𝐻 = −𝑙𝑜𝑔(𝑎) = −
2.303𝑅𝑇

To resolve this issue on the pH, we need Simulink (Figure 2) that it is a visual programming
environment, which works on the Matlab programming environment proposing a block
diagram and obtaining the graph as the final result and when we have the diagram, we just have
to pass in Multisim (Figure 3) for the circuit design and do a simulation.

Figure 2. Simulink

Figure 3. Multisim
Results achieved

Simulink

In the Simulink program, blocks were used as ramp signals, multipliers, dividers (divide),
adders, subtracts, gains, constants, and scopes. In the constants were considered for the Faraday
constant, the Eg0 giving the value of .420, the gas constant, the logarithm conversion factor
and for the temperature we consider that K = ° C + 273.15K.

As a first step, the multiplier inputs were considered to be the Faraday constant in the first input
and the ramp signal in the second input using a subtractor for the constant Eg0 so that it would
give the multiplier output towards part x of the “divide” as a numerator. For part ÷ as the
denominator, the multiplier was used once again with three inputs. The first entry is the
logarithm conversion factor constant, the second entry is the gas constant, and the third entry
used an adder to convert degrees Celsius to Kelvin. At the end, a gain was added giving the
value of -1 so that it becomes negative and thus arrive at the pH measurement formula. Next,
we obtained the log (a) as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Block diagram of log (a)

In Figure 5, it shows the result of the pH graph when we input a voltage between -420 V and
420 V in millivolts at the input and obtain a pH ranging from 0 to 14 at the output.
 Figure 5. Graph of pH

Multisim
The following circuit was obtained by replacing the simulink blocks with circuits with
operational ones to carry out each of the operations:

Figure 6. proposed circuit in multisim

The response of the circuit could not be obtained as a graph, since multisim marked an error
and only allowed us to obtain the result when Eg = -320 mV. The response of the circuit when
Eg = 320 mV is shown below:

Figure 7. Circuit response when Eg = 320 mV (pH = 13)

Conclusions

It is very interesting to see that the pH measurement can be obtained from an equation that
defines it. Furthermore, it could be understood that the circuits with OpAmps to perform
operations are very important in these cases. However, since no device is ideal, it is very
difficult to obtain an exact value at the output, but a very approximate value is obtained. In our
case, the simulator did not allow us to obtain the response of each of the Eg cases (-420 mV to
410 mV), it only allowed us to obtain the response when Eg = 320 mV. We believe this is a
multisim problem and not our circuit. The response of the circuit when Eg = 320 mV is equal
to 12,952 V, which is very close to the 13 that it should give us; therefore, we can say that our
circuit is fine.

References and Bibliography

● Beretta, A., Bassahum, D., & Musselli, R. (2014). ¿Medir el pH del suelo en la mezcla
suelo: agua en reposo o agitando? / Measure Soil pH at Rest or Stirring the Soil: water
Mixture. Agrociencia Uruguay, 18(2), 90–94.
● Martínez H., D. O., Mera Córdoba, J. A., Córdoba Barahona, C., and Ruiz, J. O. (2012).
Optoelectronic pH measurement system for thin film sensors.
● Vidal Salgado, L. and Vargas-Hernández, C. (2014). Measurement of the optical
absorption of aqueous solutions using virtual instrumentation and control.