Red cabbage indicator pH lab activity

Red cabbage contains a chemical called anthocyanin that changes colour depending on
the acidity of its environment. In an acidic environment it is reddish-pink, in a neutral
environment it is purple, and in a basic (or alkaline) environment it turns bluish-green
and even yellow.

Equipment

 Goggles
 Test tube rack
 8 test tubes
 Plastic pipette
 7 pH strips
 A sheet of white paper

Procedure

1. Gather all the equipment needed for the lab

2. One member of each group will get half a test tube of each of the seven
solutions
3. Before you start testing the solutions, fill in the observations in the table below
and your prediction of whether the solution is an acid or a base and what you
think the solution is.
4. Test each solution with the pH paper and write the pH in the table below
5. Using the plastic pipette, add some red cabbage indicator to each of the seven
test tubes
6. Record the colour change in each group in the table below

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Observations
Smell,
colour, etc.

What do you
think each
solution is?
pH using pH
paper
Colour
change when
RCI is added