How is heated water still neutral even though the pH drops below 7?
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Care to provide proof that heated water is acidic?
More H+ ions are created so the PH decreases, however an equal amount of OH- ions are also created, keeping the acidity neutral
Well if the pH drops below 7 then it’s no longer neutral. However, 7.00 is not the only time you can call something neutral. Neutral exists on the pH scale in a range around 7.00 so while the excited water molecules of heated water have a higher chance of ionizing it’s likely not enough to push the overall pH outside of that range. Remember that every full integer on the pH is 10x as basic or acidic as the last.
This is assuming the water is already deionized, if it’s not then the majority of the water will evaporate leaving behind the ions already in the sample in an increasing concentration.
This is all a guess using my knowledge as a prior biochemist. I have not conducted any experiments like this before so I can’t say anything definitive.
Okay let’s look at it this way. Imagine you had a solution of OH- and a solution of H+ ions. You mix them together but it is so hot that they cannot bond to produce water. The solution is overall neutral as the concentrations of H and OH ions are equal, however it is also highly acidic and basic in nature because there are extremely high concentrations of both H and OH ions in the solution.
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