Same Level, Very Different Tank

You'll learnwhy two buffers at the same pH can have wildly different staying power, and what actually sets the limit.

Two buffers, both at pH 4.70, both a 1:1 mixture. One shrugs off a hundred drops of strong base and the other breaks after one, and the pH reading gave you no warning. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · pH = RATIO · CAPACITY = AMOUNT · USEFUL RANGE pK_a ± 1 · v2

the level is the pH · the width is the reserve

Before you start

What you're looking at

Two tanks of buffer at the same level: a wide one and a narrow one. The level is the pH; the width is how much buffer there is.

The question

Their pH readings are identical, so are they equally good at holding that pH?

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