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
variable
Responding
variable
Constants Control

Different
types of
substances
measured by
the cabbage
juice


The color
of the
cabbage
juice
depending
of the type
of
substance
measured
the amount of
cabbage juice
used
The containers
Temperature
A container
with no more
than cabbage
juice.
# 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
guess
(acid/
basic/
neutral)
pH
indicator
reading
Cabbage
juice
Cabbage
pH
Acidic/
basic
Does yout
pH and
cabbage
juice
reading
match
Apple juice acid 4 pink 3-4 acid yes
milk neutral 7 violet 5-7 acid no
Lemon
juice
acid 2 redish 1-2 acid yes
Hand
Sanitizer
basic 5 violet 5-7 acid no
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
violet
8 base no
Orange
juice
acid 4 pink 3-4 acid yes
Baking
soda
basic 10 green 9-10 base yes

Graph

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
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
p
H

m
e
a
s
u
r
e
m
e
n
t


substance
pH indicator vs cabbage juice indicator
ph indicator
cabbage juice pH
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>.