Hydrogen ion

So potential hydrogen, what is actually in there? pH is a measure of how acidic or basic alkaline the soil solution is.

And it is a function of the concentration of hydrogen ions in that solution.

Technically, it's a measure of the activity of the hydrogen ion, its effective concentration in the soil solution.

So picture the water sitting in the pores of your soil.

Floating around in it are two things that we care about today.

We have hydrogen ions, which is a hydrogen atom that has lost its electron, so it carries a positive charge, and we write that as H+, and hydroxide ions, which is an oxygen and a hydrogen are stuck together.

and hydroxide ions, which is an oxygen and a hydrogen stuck together carrying a negative charge.

And we write that as OH-.