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The STEAM topic I chose this semester involves acid-base homeostasis in the human body as well as some examples of where we can find these acidic, alkaline, or neutral substances.
pH in the Human Body
The STEAM topic I chose this semester involves acid-base homeostasis in the human body as well as some examples of where we can find these acidic, alkaline, or neutral substances.
The pH balance for the human body is between 7.35 to 7.45 and the average number is 7.40. If someone’s pH balance is higher than 7.45 they are alkalemia and if it is below 7.35 a person is considered acidemia.
The acid-base homeostasis is a balance between acid and base in the body. Having a good balance of both helps function the body, yet too much acid or base can cause serious damage or even death. If there is too much acid in the blood, it’s know to be called acidic and if the body becomes too basic it’s called alkalosis. When the body hits acidosis the sides effect are confusion, jaundice, fatigue, and increased heart rate.
Kidneys are great in keeping the balance for acid-base homeostasis, there are two ways the kidneys maintain the balance. One, They reabsorb bicarbonate from urine. Two they excrete hydrogen from urine.
In the medical field, we test UTIs by a urine dip for faster results. A urine dip is called a urinalysis, this helps understand the levels of acidity or pH a person has in the urine. At times the providers send off the urine for culture to see if any bacteria are growing from the urine. The dipstick has chemicals that change colors once it is dipped. Not only that the urinalysis detects pH balance but also if there is any blood in the urine that we cannot see with a naked eye. Some people suffer from diabetes which is a metabolic disease, those who have diabetes tend to have a lower pH balance.
The human body has acid and base of its own while looking at the pH scale, we can see that our stomach acid is on the high acid level at 1, while blood and tears are considered a mostly natural base.