Acidity in Your Stomach

I think this lab and write up mainly gave me a good refresher on the Ph scale.  Like many people the Ph scale was rather confusing with its backwards ways.  Meaning the higher the Ph the lower the base and lower the Ph the higher the acidity. Below 7 is an acid and anything above 7 is an alkaline.  An acid is defined as any compound, which forms hydrogen ions in solution. For this reason acids are sometimes referred to as "proton donors".   On the other side of things a base is a compound that combines with hydrogen ions in solution. Therefore, bases can be referred to as "proton acceptors".  Bases also release hydroxide ions.  Hydroxide bases are very strong, sometimes even strong enough to deprotonate acids. Those who suffer from acidity in their stomachs take antacids in order to balance the Ph in the stomach by increasing it.  Normally, the acid level in your stomach is about 2 Those or 3. Trouble may start when your pH drops below those numbers. To make you feel better, an antacid need not bring the pH level all the way up to 7 (neutral), which would be a highly unnatural state for your stomach.    

Water Properties on Prezi

Clinical Trials

  Clinical trials are best defined as a test or series of tests performed in order to gather information to solve a problem, typically a disease of some sort effecting humans.  One of thousands of clinical trials being performed is over the West Nile Virus.  Which is transmitted by mosquitoes.  I chose this trial because I could definately relate to it.  Several years ago I did indeed contract West Nile on a trip to Iowa.  It was a rather horrible experience that I couldn't do much for other than endure its wrath.  I had a fever of about 104degrees which I then suffered Hallucinations from (I don't recall any of them).  I wasn't able to hold down and food or drink and I thus lost about 10lbs of water weight!  The week long sickness was definitely one of the most horrible things that I have ever experienced.  The virus is nowhere near as "popular" as it was several years ago.  However, there have been various trials performed on it.  In the majority of these trials a placebo, or sugar pill which doesn't effect the patient in any way, was used in order to compare the outcomes versus of the actual drug.  When a placebo is being used it is called a "double blind trial"  which means the patient doesn't now whether they are taking a placebo or actual drug. This is done so that the researches can gather accurate information on the effects.