Alkaline water has a higher pH level than pure water and so is more basic. Does that make it better for your health or not? Here are a few points that might help elucidate what these "ionized" alkaline water can do to our body.
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To the layman, pH is simply a measure of acidity or alkalinity, most often used in evaluating one’s gardening soil. To the chemist, pH is defined as ”the negative logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration”, a phrase that means nothing to the layman. Water, H2O, naturally forms hydronium ions, H3O+, and hydroxide ions, OH-, through the following naturally-occurring reaction:
2 H2O ⇔ H3O+ + OH-
This reaction, called dissociation, is reversible, hence the double-headed arrow. With a natural pH of 7.0 for pure water, the hydronium ion concentration is thus 1 x 10-7, which is a very small number indeed. It should be noted that hydronium is what makes all acids acidic and hydroxide is basic, or alkaline, as are a number of other ionic species such as carbonates and phosphates.