That is correct 🙂
Oooh, buffers! Maybe I should write a separate topic on buffers?
Like you said, buffer is a solution, which keeps a product within a certain pH range. The scientific definition of a buffer solution is one which resists changes in pH when small quantities of an acid or a base are added to it.
How exactly the buffer does that? Remember I said that WEAK acids do not dissociate entirely in water like STRONG acids do? Well, a buffer is based exactly on this notion. We can design a buffer solution with a specific pH range by choosing the appropriate combination of a weak acid with its conjugate base (its salt), which upon addition to a water will form the following equilibrium system:
HA ⇄ H+ + A-
The “⇄” arrows mean that this reaction can go both ways. If you add some strong acid (H+), which is on the right side of the equation, then the reaction will go left, and you’ll obtain more of the HA species. This is called a neutralization reaction –
all the acid you’ve added has turned to HA, and basically the amount of the protons (H+) didn’t change, so you left with the same pH.
