Hello readers!
This past few days we were discussing about the pH of a range of household chemicals, and today im going to show you guys on what we were experimenting about.
Aim: why did we do the experiment?
- The aim of this experiment was to test the pH of a range of household chemicals
Equipment: what did you use for your experiment?
- Spotting tiles
- Safety Glasses
- Pipette
- Litmus blue paper
- Litmus blue paper
- Household chemicals
- Universal Indicator
Method: what steps did you complete to get your results for your experiment? Make sure your steps are numbered (like a recipe)
- Add a few drops of the household chemicals to the spotting tile (if the chemical is powdered, mix it with a few drops of water before testing.)
- Test the solutions by using litmus paper
- Test each chemical with a few drops of universal indicator to know the pH level of the solution.
Results: Pictures + link to your results table
| Chemical being tested | Colour in blue litmus | Colour in red litmus | Colour in Universal indicator |
| Spray and wipe | BLUE | BLUE | RED |
| Floor cleaning | RED | BLUE | BLUE |
| Fabric softener | RED | RED | RED |
| Toilet cleaner | RED | RED | RED |
| Dishwasher liquid | Blue | RED |
| Chemical being tested | Acid or Base? | Evidence from investigation |
| SPRAY AND WIPE | ACID | U.I: it turned red meaning it is an acid. |
| FLOOR CLEANING | BASE | U.I: it turned blue meaning it is an acid. |
| FABRIC SOFTENER | ACID | U.I: it turned red meaning it is an acid. |
| TOILET CLEANER | ACID | U.I : it turned Red meaning it is an Acid.
I know it is an acid because both litmus colours turned red. |
| DISHWASHER LIQUID | ACID | U.I; it turned red meaning it is an acid. |
Discussion: starting discussion questions (you can include more detail)
- Why did different household chemicals change different colours?
Different chemicals changed colours based if they were an acid or base. I know this because the chemical vinegar changed red in our indicators whereas the chemical fabric softener changed blue. The colour red tells us that vinegar is an acid, blue tells us fabric softener is a base
- How did you know if these chemicals were acidic or base?
For you to identify if the solution is acidic or basic using a litmus paper is if you use a red litmus paper and it turns to blue then the solution is basic, but if the red litmus paper remains red then the solution is acidic.
- Why might Universal indicator be more useful than Litmus paper?
Universal indicator , the universal indicator is more useful than the litmus paper because it doesn’t only tell if the solution is acidic or basic but it also tells how acidic or basic a solution is.
Conclusion: starting conclusion questions (you can include more detail)
- did all your experiments work – if they didn’t, why? Our experiment work and the result of the colour turned into the colour that we were expecting to.
- What could you do to improve your science next time? Be there for the experiment ” i wasn’t there”