pH partition is the tendency for

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a s ...

s to accumulate in basic

fluid compartment The human body and even its individual body fluids may be conceptually divided into various fluid compartments, which, although not literally anatomic compartments, do represent a real division in terms of how portions of the body's water, solu ...

s, and bases to accumulate in acidic compartments. The reason for this phenomenon is that acids become negatively

electric charge Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes charged matter to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be ''positive'' or ''negative'' (commonly carried by protons and electrons respecti ...

d in basic fluids, since they donate a

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mas ...

. On the other hand, bases become positively electric charged in acid fluids, since they receive a proton. Since electric charge decrease the

membrane permeability The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of all cells from the outside environment (th ...

of substances, once an acid enters a basic fluid and becomes electrically charged, then it cannot escape that compartment with ease and therefore accumulates, and vice versa with bases.

See also