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pH Buffering in Human Blood

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This Demonstration simulates the buffer system in human blood, showing its resistance to a change in pH by the addition of acid or base. Human blood contains carbonic acid and bicarbonate anion , which form a buffer to maintain blood pH between 7.35 and 7.45.

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Move the sliders to control the acid or base added to the buffer system. The pH is calculated using the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation: . The pH is plotted as a function of concentration. The smiley face changes according to the pH value: it smiles only when the pH is within the healthy range. A yellow sad face means that the person is experiencing acidosis; a blue sad face means alkalosis.

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Contributed by: Claire Chen and Hongdi Wu (August 2022)
With additional contributions by: Dalia Hassan, Yifan Lai and Kristina M. Lenn
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

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[1] J. Pietri and D. Land. "Blood as a Buffer." (Nov 24, 2021) chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/1297.

[2] Wikipedia. "Bicarbonate Buffer System." (Nov 24, 2021) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicarbonate_buffer_system.

[3] Khan Academy. "Chemistry of Buffers and Buffers in Our Blood." (Nov 24, 2021) www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/chemical-processes/acid-base-equilibria/a/chemistry-of-buffers-and-buffers-in-blood.

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