Buffer Solutions

Buffer solutions in fluids


learning Objective:
* understand the Homeostasis concept .

Buffer solutions
Most chemical reactions occurring in our bodies work best in a specific pH range. Blood, for example, works at pH 7.4 and any variation of 0.2 units either way would render the person seriously ill. To make sure the pH values are kept at the appropri¬ate best working values, our body cells employ a series of solutions called ‘buffers’. These are molecules that resist any changes of acidity or alkalinity.
Buffer solutions are a mixture of substances that interact with any incoming acid or alkali impurity to render them ineffective and help restore the pH of the solution to its original value.

You can design artificial mixtures of substances to make up buffers to keep solu¬tions at any given pH by regulating its composition. Commercial ‘stomach acidity regulators’ bought in the chemist’s shop have their own mixtures of chemicals designed to do this. The body has its own special system and is only interested in keeping the pH at the most effective working values. This is known as ‘homeo-stasis’. The body’s buffers, mainly proteins and amino acids, must have a wide flexibility to take care of any ‘alien’ impurities from causes ranging from disease to over-eating.