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I am in Grade 9 in Tasmania. I was just wondering if you could tell me how to distinguish water from Acid without tasting it as we are doing chemical reactions in my science class. On Thursday, we have a double science class and one of our requirements is for us to test to see which of the beakers contains water and to prove we need to test it without tasting, and touching it. If you could help me that would be great.
Question Date: 2015-08-28
Answer 1:

This sounds like a fun experiment! I hope this message got to you in time -- I'm so sorry if it didn't :(

Red cabbage juice is a great natural indicator for whether a liquid is an acid, base, or neutral substance. Red cabbage juice has a pigment called anthocyanin. When anthocyanin comes into contact with an acid, it turns red. When it comes into contact with a base, it appears greenish-yellow, and when it comes into contact with a neutral solution, such as water, it turns purple.

I hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your lab!



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