Francisco Jarrin

Block 5

27 september, 2013

Testing the pH of substance by using cabbage juice to determine weather it is an

acid or a base

Introduction:

Red cabbage contains a pigment molecule called flavin (an anthocyanin). This water-

soluble pigment is also found in apple skin, plums, poppies, cornflowers, and grapes.

Very acidic solutions will turn anthocyanin a red color. Neutral solutions result in a

purplish color. Basic solutions appear in greenish-yellow. Therefore, it is possible to

determine the pH of a solution based on the color it turns the anthocyanin pigments in

red cabbage juice.

The color of the juice changes in response to changes in its hydrogen ion

concentration. pH is the -log[H+]. Acids will donate hydrogen ions in an aqueous

solution and have a low pH (pH < 7). Bases accept hydrogen ions and have a high pH

(pH > 7).

Red Cabbage Lab: Acids and Bases

Liquids all around us have either acidic or basic (alkaline) properties. For example,

acids taste sour; while, bases taste bitter and feel slippery. However, both strong acids

and strong bases can be very dangerous and burn your skin, so it is important to be

very careful when using such chemicals. In order to measure how acidic or basic a

liquid is, one must use the pH scale as illustrated below:

The strength of the pH scale is determined by the concentration of hydrogen ions

(H+) where a high concentration of H+ ions indicate a low pH and a high

concentration of H+ ions indicate a high pH. The pH scale ranges from 1 to 14 where

1 to 6 is classified as acidic, 7 neutral (neither a base or an acid) and 8 to 14 is

classified as basic.

In this lab, you will use the juice from red cabbage as a pH indicator to test common

household liquids and determine their pH levels. You will mix cabbage juice with

different household liquids and see a color change produced by a pigment called

flavin (an anthocyanin) in red cabbage. Through this color change, you will be able to

successfully identify the approximate pH of common household liquids using the

table below:

Objective:

Test different substances, by using cabbage juice as a pH indicator to determine

wether the substance is an acid or base, acording to the color of the cabbage juice.

Hypothesis: If the cabbage juice turns into a redish tone then the substance measured

will be an acid, otherwise if the cabbage juice turns from a blue to green or yellow

tonality it woul be basic. Also if the cabbage juice color is around the violet brand

tonality it might be neutral.

Manipulated Responding Constants Control
variable variable
 The color  the amount of A container
 Different of the cabbage juice with no more
types of cabbage used than cabbage
substances juice  The containers juice.
measured by depending  Temperature
the cabbage of the type
juice of
substance
measured
# 10 trials

Materials

 250ml of cabbage juice.

 10 glasses containers or beakers of about 40 ml of capacity

 1 graduated cilinder of about 100ml

 apple juice 13ml

 lemon juice 15ml

 milk 14ml

 hand sanitizer 10 ml

 vinegar 12ml

 alka-seltzer 2.5g

 sprite 12.5ml

 hand soap 10ml

 orange Juice 25ml

 baking soda 2.5g

 Pincers

 Stiring rod

 Tape
  Marker

Procedure

1. In 10 diferent glass containers put 25ml of cabbage juice. Then measure the

pH of the cabbage juice.

2. Then with tape and marker label them acording to each substance (one beaker

per substance).

3. Measure the pH of the substances before adding them into the cabbage juice

4. With the graduated cilinder and the pincers apply each substance to each

beaker with 25ml

5. Stir them up with the stiring rod.

6. Record the results like change of color in a table.

Results:

Table

Substance Prelab pH Cabbage Cabbage Acidic/ Does yout

guess juice pH and
indicator
(acid/ pH basic cabbage
basic/ reading juice
neutral) reading
match
Apple juice acid 4 pink 3-4 acid yes

milk neutral 7 violet 5-7 acid no

Lemon acid 2 redish 1-2 acid yes

juice

Hand basic 5 violet 5-7 acid no

Sanitizer

vinager acid 3 red 3-4 acid yes

Alka- basic 6 Violet/pink 8 basic no

seltzer

sprite acid 4 Violet/pink 3-4 acid yes

Hand soap basic 6 Dark 8 base no

violet

Orange acid 4 pink 3-4 acid yes

juice

Baking basic 10 green 9-10 base yes

soda

Graph

pH indicator vs cabbage juice indicator

12
pH measurement

10
8
6
4
2 ph indicator
0 cabbage juice pH

substance

Analysis:

The data in the graph and indicates, the comparison between the pH paper measure

and the cabbage juice measure on the tested substances. For most of the

measurements, the indicator measure the same value, while in other it differs. For

example in the alkaseltzer sample the pH indicator show a value of 6 and the cabbage

juice shows a value of 8. Another unbalance of measurements is shown in the milk

sample since it indicates that its pH indicator shows a pH of 7 while the cabbage juice
shows a pH of 6. In the other hand, by reasearching the pH of some substances it

coincides to the mesurement done by the cabbage juice indicator.

Conclusion

The purpose of this experiment is to compare and identify the pH of certain

substances by using different indicators such as the pH paper indicator and the

cabbage juice. Some major finding were the differences between the measurements,

since some of them were accurate while others were away from reality like the

alkaseltzer. In the other hand the experiment coincided in the most with the

measurments. So the experiment supported the hypothesis since the tonality of the

colors from the cabbage juice change acording to their consentration of protons in the

solution. For example baking soda ph indicator shown a 10 in the scale and its color

was green, so it falls into the basic category while in the case of lemon juice both

indicators measured 2 and the cabbage juice turned into a reddish color. Some of

these results coincided in the ones on the reasearch. They coincided in the way of

tonalities of colors and the pHs meausred. Most of the substances that were tested

resulted in being acids rather than bases as it said in previous reasearch.

Along with these, there is some explanation for the measurements that varied, maybe

there was some error in there, could be a miss measure of the amount of cabbage juice

in each beakers, also in the comparison between the colours on the table that identify

the pHs could be confused.

To improve most of the errors committed use more standarized or equal amounts of

the different substances instead of using the necessary amount to change the color. In

other words all og the substances may be using the same amount of abou 25ml or

2.5g. Also another thing that coul be improved is the stiring of each solution so the
color can be at its final stage and not in the process of changing,but the main error

could happen on the comparison of colors of the pH indicator and the cabbage juice.

By doing these maybe there will be an slightly change in the pH of each substance,

and make it all of the pHs coincide or maybe none of them would coincide. But there

will bean improvement in the results. Another improvement of the could be to test

more substances that are previosly categorized as bases so there coul be more variety

in the experiment and a larger range to compare to. This could be a determining factor

since most of the substances are acids. Finally this experiment demonstrated that the

cabbage is a trustworthy pH indicator and it could be used to test substances pH

although it will be good to have two methods to measure samples (just in case there is

a confusion).

Bibliography

• Helmenstine, Anne Marie, and Ph.D.. "Red Cabbage pH Indicator - How to Make
Red Cabbage pH Indicator." About.com Chemistry - Chemistry Projects,
Homework Help, Periodic Table. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
<http://chemistry.about.com/od/acidsbase1/a/red-cabbage-ph-indicator.htm>.
• "Standfort." stanfort. stanfort , n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
<http://www.stanford.edu/~ajspakow/downloads/outreach/ph-student-9-30-
09.pdf>.