Red Cabbage pH paper

By - Udit Ahuja XII – A; 21

SUBMITTED TO ALL INDIA SENIOR SECONDARY

CERTIFICATE EXAM FOR CHEMISTRY (043)
 M.K.V.V.I.V
2022-23
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my subject
teacher of physics Mrs. Rasna Muskane and the
laboratory assistant Mrs. Jyoti for their vital support,
guidance and encouragement without which this project
would not come forth from my side.

I would even like to thank my Principal Mrs. Nimisha

Singh who presentes us this opportunity. I wish to thank
my parents for their undivided support and interest who
inspired me and encourages me to go to my own way
without which I would be unable to complete my project.
 Index

● Introduction ● Principle ● Apparatus ●

Procedure ● Working ● Precautions ● Uses ●
Conclusion ● Bibliography

Introduction

This project is based on the amazing indicative

properties of red cabbage something that can be found
in every household and it works wonders on the acidic
and basic substances (which surprisingly are also
present in mostly all of the pantries too!).

In this project we will study the chemical properties

of cabbage and what even makes it a natural indicator
in the first place and show how to make one own
indicator paper at home in a few simple and easy
steps.

Principle

Red cabbage is useful as a pH indicator because the leaves contain

a pigment molecule from the family of anthocyanins (shown
below) which are responsible for many of the red/purple/blue
colors observed in fruits and vegetables. In neutral solutions, the
color observed is purple. As the solution becomes more acidic it
becomes red in colour. Increasing the pH in basic solutions
changes the color from blue to green and at high pH the solution
is observed as greenish-yellow.
 Apparatus
The following will be required for the experiment:
1. A small head of red cabbage
2. Chopping board
3. Knife
4. Coffee filter paper
5. Blender
6. Materials for testing:
● Milk
● Baking Powder
● Liquid soap ● Chlorox
● Apple Juice
● Lemon Juice

Procedure
The following steps are to be followed to make the pH paper:
1. Cut the cabbage head into half.

2. Chop the cabbage into cubes.

3 Blend the pieces into a paste.

4 Strain the paste into a juice.

5 Pour the juice over the filter paper and let it soak up the juice.
6 Let the paper dry and cut it into pieces.

Your Ph paper is ready!

 Working
After the filter paper has dried and the juice is absorbed we start
testing out our samples and check their pH.

We pour a few drops of the sample over the pH paper and see for
any colour change in the paper.
Sample Colour of the paper pH

Milk Violet 6.9

Baking Powder Blue 8

Lemon Juice Pink 2

Chlorox Greenish yellow 11

Soap detergent Bluish green 9

Apple Juice Dark red 3.5

 Precautions
There are a number of precautions that we need to ensure so that
the experiment works:
1. While using the knife to chop up the cabbage we do it safely
and don’t cut ourself.
2. Let the pH paper dry completely before you it into pieces, so
that it doesn’t tear.
3. Keep the paper strips of the pH indicator separate from each
other so that the colours from the previous experiment don’t
bleed into new paper.
 Uses
The paper is used to test the acidity and basicity of the substance.
This particular one will also be more accurate than a litmus paper
because it also gives a smaller range of pH value for a substance.
This paper is easier to produce too because of its availability.

Conclusion
Acid, bases and pH are an extremely important part of science.
Acids and bases effect affect almost everything around us. In
nature pH plays an important role in survival. For example, if we
change the pH of our body even by one level it could get us killed.
The same goes for most other plants and animals. The
environment is also affected by pH. Pollution can cause the pH of
the rain to be lowered. This is what people call acid rain. Acid
rain can ruin buildings and stone, as well as affect plant and
aquatic life. Manufacturers are alse concerned with acid and bases
because they are used to make material such as cleaning products
and building material.

Bibliography
● https://www.seminarsonly.com/Engineering-Projects/Chem
istry/red-cabbage-ph-paper.php
● https://youtu.be/IB66IPbYeAk
● https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/outreach/acti
vities/red-cabbage-indicator.html#:~:text=Red%20cabbage
%20contains%20a%20chemical,shape%20and%20it%20lo
oks%20pink.