Red cabbage indicator

 Aim: I want to find out how red cabbage can tell if a liquid is an acid or a base.

Research: 

Method:

Equipment: 

• beaker
• warm water
• red cabbage 
• test tubes 
• Acid(hydrochloric acid)
• Base (sodium hydroxide)
• dropper 

instructions:

1. wash your hands
2. get all your equipment 
3. put warm water into your beaker about half way
4. cut your red cabbage and put it in your beaker 
5. Let it soak all the colouring in while stirring it.
6. with your dropper put some of the cabbage water into each test tube and then experiment and try to make different colours with the acid and base.

Results:

Discussion: 

What is an acid and a base?

An acid is any hydrogen-containing substance that is capable of donating a proton (hydrogen ion) to another substance.  A base is a molecule or ion able to accept a hydrogen ion from an acid.

what do chemical indicators do?

chemical indicator, any substance that gives a visible sign, usually by a colour change, of the presence or absence of a threshold concentration of a chemical species, such as an acid or an alkali in a solution. ... The common application of indicators is the detection of end points of titrations.