Color Changes with Acids and Bases

Add to list Go to activity
Learners mix a variety of substances with red cabbage juice. The juice changes color to indicate whether each substance is an acid or a base. Learners can follow up their study of acids and bases in the related activity, "Neutralizing Acids and Bases" (see related resources). [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
5 to 10 minutes
Learning Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 6 - 14
Resource Types:
Activity, Experiment/Lab Activity
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • Red cabbage leaves
  • Cream of tartar
  • Vinegar
  • Powdered laundry detergent
  • Water
  • Zip-closing plastic bag, storage-grade, quart-size
  • 5 Clear plastic cups
  • 3 Small cups
  • 2 Flat toothpicks
  • 1 Dropper
  • 1 Tablespoon
  • Permanent marker
  • White piece of paper
  • Student Activity Sheet

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Chemistry
      • Chemical Reactions
      • Acids and Bases
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Asking Questions
      • Conducting Investigations
      • Formulating Explanations

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • see color
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Components that are part of this resource:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

  • Kessler, James H. ; Galvan, Patricia M.

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, American Chemical Society, 2007