pHON/OFFCALpH: 8.34

pH meter and pH paper figures

pH Reading draws a pH meter wired to a glass electrode standing in a beaker, or a strip of pH paper above its color chart, showing the pH you type. A digital pH meter shows 1 or 2 decimal places. An analog meter swings a needle over a dial from 0 to 14, marked every 0.2 and read to 0.01, with an optional magnified view of the dial.

The pH paper is universal indicator paper: its wet end turns the color of the reading, and students match it to the chart’s swatch for each whole pH from 0 to 14. Teachers use these figures in acids and bases units, indicator labs, and questions comparing how precisely each instrument reads.

What you can set

  • Instrument: a digital pH meter, an analog pH meter, or pH paper with its color chart
  • Decimal places on the digital meter: 1 or 2
  • The pH, from 0 to 14, typed or picked at random
  • A magnifier beside the analog meter’s dial or in place of it
  • A chart title, and an answer key line with the pH

Copying, printing and sharing

Copy the figure straight into a test, worksheet or slide, or download it as a PNG or SVG. Printing the page prints just the figure. Share link copies the page’s address with your settings in it, so anyone who opens it sees this exact figure, and presets save settings you use often in your browser. It’s free, with no sign-up.

Frequently asked questions

Is pH paper the same as litmus paper?

No. Litmus only tells an acid from a base. Universal indicator paper, which this figure shows, turns a range of colors, so the pH can be read to the whole number from its color chart.

Will the pH paper figure work in black and white?

No. Students match the strip’s color to the chart, so print it in color or show it on a slide. The pH meters are read from numbers and a needle, not color.

How do you read an analog pH meter?

The dial is numbered every 1 and marked every 0.2. Find the last mark the needle has passed, then estimate where it sits in the next 0.2 and read to 0.01, like 6.47.

How precise is each instrument?

The digital meter shows 1 or 2 decimal places, the analog meter is read to 0.01 with the last digit estimated, and pH paper is read to the whole number.

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