Madison Imoehl

Acids, Bases, and pH

Hypothesis/Purpose
Our main question for the lab is Which household items are acids, and which are bases? My
hypothesis was that if the litmus paper changes color it is either an acidic or a base. If the paper
doesnt change color then it is neutral. We already know there are many chemical substances in
the world. We are trying to found out if the litmus paper turns a certain color because it comes in
contact with an acid, base, or neutral substance. We are also trying to find out what those colors
will be. The independent variable was the liquid. The dependent variable was the color of the
litmus paper. My new vocabulary word is pH indicator. pH indicators are substances that have the
property of changing their color when they come in contact with an acidic or basic environment.
Materials
Bleach
Laundry detergent
Dishwashing detergent
Baking soda
Aspirin
Tap water
Antacid
Beaker
Litmus paper (colors blue and red)
Pipet
Procedure
1. First we got the red and blue litmus paper. We obtained 7 of each.
2. Then we got a scratch piece of paper to soak up extra liquid and put it on our table.
3. Then we laid out the litmus paper, one blue and one red to a pair.
4. Next we took our pipet and got a drop of each of the liquids listed above.
5. Then, one at a time we dropped a few drops each of the substances on the litmus.
6. After we recorded our results.
7. We then wrote down whether the liquid was an acid, base, or neutral.
8. Then we taped both pieces of litmus paper to our data table.

Data
Our data showed that basic items turned the litmus paper from red to blue. Acidic items turned
the litmus paper from blue too red. Neutral items like tap water kept the paper the color it
originally was. The only acid we had was the aspirin. The bases were the bleach, laundry
detergent, dishwashing detergent, baking soda, and antacid. We also found out that most
cleanings agents were basic.
Analysis
Our hypothesis was supported. Neutral liquids dont turn the litmus papers color. In the
experiment, we learned how different substances changes the color of litmus paper. One thing
that went well was having the scratch piece of paper to soak up the extra liquid. One thing that
didnt work was having one lab sheet, but we solved it by making copies. I learned that acids

have hydrogen ions and bases have hydroxide ions. When they are mixed together water is
created.