Making universal indicators

Aim:

I want to see the different indicators

Equipment:

Method:

Chop the cabbage into small pieces until you have enough to fill the small beaker
place the cabbage into the small or large beaker then add water
then boil it over the heating plate until it boils
wait until the colour seeps out of the cabbage
repeat the steps with the beetroot
then with a pipette get a few drops of the beetroot juice
add some drops of beetroot or cabbage into a test tube
add some acid and base to each of the test tubes and see what colour it changes into

Discussion:

What colour did each indicator change in an acid vs. a base?
The indicator my group used was beetroot and we looked around and wrote down the results of the cabbage, the beetroot changed colour into red in acid and in the base, it turned orange, for the cabbage it turned red in the acid and it turned green in the base
Why did indicators change colour?
They changed colour when we added the acid/base as an indicator of the PH level from all the reactions and chemicals
Were some indicators better than others – if so, why do you think this is?
Yes because some of the indicators only changed colours slightly where as other indicators changed colours drastically and it was easier to tell. For example, the beetroot changed from red to dark red and thats quite hard to tell the difference but the turmeric changed from yellow to deep red/black.

Conclusion:

did all your experiments work?
yes, it was pretty cool
What could you do to improve next time?
try adding more acid and base to the beetroot and boiling it longer as well as adding more indicator
How could you make your results more reliable?
Adding more acid and base and doing the experiment with a perfectionist so they make us do everything perfectly. For example, counting the number of drops we add to the indicator, and timing the time you boil it.

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