Testing the Ph of Common Household Substances Lab

Background Information:
The pH scale is used to determine the acidity or basicity level of liquid solutions. If a service ratings a pH level of 1-6 it is an acidic solution, 1 being the most acidic and 6 being the least acidic. If a solution rates a pH level of 7 it is a neutral option, implying it is neither an acidic nor a standard solution. Lastly, if an option is 8-14 on the pH scale it is a basic option, 8 being the least fundamental and 14 being the most standard.

The items that are utilized daily in your home can also be acidic services, basic services, or perhaps neutral solutions.

Hypothesis:
Foodstuff are most likely to be weak acids since food is not slippery, you can eat it which is why it’s a weak acid, and since foods are sour. Cleaning up items are forecasted to be strong bases because they include a very essential attribute of bases; they are slippery. Individual care products are forecasted to be neutral options because they are not corrosive like acids and bases that can damage your skin.

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Materials:
– 12-well meal
– Paper indicators
oRed litmus
oBlue litmus
opH paper
– Different typical home substances
oShampoo
oLemon juice
oGreen tea
oSprite
oDetergent
oMilk
oWindex

Treatment:
1. Acquire a little sample of each substance to be evaluated. Place the compound in one well of the 12-well dish. 2. Check the effect of each sample on red litmus and blue litmus to identify if the substance is acidic, basic or neutral. (Make sure if you have a substance from EACH item type) 3.

Test each sample with universal indication paper. Match the color of the universal indication paper with the indication chart to figure out the approximate pH value of the compound. Record the pH value and classify the compound as a: – strong base (pH= 11-14).

– weak base (pH= 8-10).
– around neutral (pH= 7).
– weak acid (pH= 4-6).
– strong acid (pH= 0-3).

Observation:.
SubstanceProduct TypeRed LitmusBlue LitmuspH PaperpH ValueAnalysis Acid or Base?
ShampooPersonal CareStayed RedPinkStayed OrangepH 4Weak Acid Lemon JuiceFoodStayed RedRedBright RedpH 1Strong Acid
Green TeaFoodStayed RedStayed BlueStayed OrangepH 7Neutral SpriteFoodStayed RedPinkStayed OrangepH 4Weak Acid
MilkFoodLight PurpleStayed BlueYellowpH 7Neutral
DetergentCleaningBlueStayed BlueYellowpH 10Base
WindexCleaningBlueStayed BlueLight GreenpH 9Weak Base

Results:
The three classes of household products tested for pH levels in this lab were; cleaning, personal care, and food products. The only personal care product that was tested in this lab was shampoo; which was a very weak acid, it scored 4 on the pH scale, when tested with red litmus it stayed red, but turned pink when tested with blue litmus and stayed orange when tested with pH paper. Lemon juice was the first food product tested it proved to be a very strong acid; red litmus stayed the same color, blue litmus turned red and pH paper turned bright red, scoring a 7 on the pH scale. The second food
product that was tested was green tea which was neutral; it stayed red with red litmus, stayed blue with blue litmus and stayed orange with pH paper and therefore, scored a pH level of 7. The third food product that was tested was Sprite, which was a weak acid, the red litmus stayed red, blue litmus turned pink and the pH paper stayed orange scoring a pH level of 7. The last food product that was tested was milk, which turned out to be neutral, when tested with red litmus it turned light purple, the blue litmus stayed blue and the pH paper turned yellow, which scored a pH level of 7. Lastly, cleaning products were tested. The first cleaning product tested was detergent which was a base, the red litmus turned blue, the blue litmus stayed blue and the pH paper turned yellow, giving it a pH level of 10. The last cleaning product tested was Windex which was a weak base; it turned red litmus blue, kept blue litmus the same color and turned pH paper light green and scored a pH level of 9.

Conclusion:
When red litmus paper was tested on substances from the food category they stayed red, except for milk which turned light purple. When tested with blue litmus paper the results varied; lemon juice was red-because it’s an acid, green tea and milk stayed blue-because they’re neutral and -Sprite turned pink-because it’s a weak acid. The results also varied when tested with pH paper; lemon juice turned bright red-because it’s a strong acid, green tea and Sprite stayed orange and milk turned yellow-because it’s a base.

Only one personal care product was tested; shampoo. It showed acidic properties when tested with all three indicators; the red litmus stayed red, the blue litmus turned pink and the pH paper stayed orange. Shampoo resulted to be a weak acid.

The results for cleaning products were very similar. When tested with red litmus detergent and Windex both turned the paper blue. Then, when they were tested with blue litmus both products kept the blue litmus the same color. The only result that varied was when tested with pH paper detergent turned the paper yellow, while Windex turned the paper light green. But in the end they were both bases, just one stronger than the other.

Discussion:
1.Most of the results within the product class are the same, but the results differ within the class of food products. Food products vary from being acids and neutral solutions. Food products which are sour, like lemon juice, turn out to be acids. On the other hand, some food products are neutral such as milk and green tea. 2.Most of the household products are acids, but in general whichever category they fall under they are weak. The reason the acids are weak because these are things that you use in your day-to-day life, if the acidity level is high it can burn through your skin and cause harm. On the other hand, the cleaning products are weak bases because they need to have some acidic properties to them in order to kill bacteria, if it was a strong base it would not have the same affect. 3.There are many possible errors that could have occurred. First, when putting the chosen substance in the 12-well dish, the wooden stick that was touching the substance may have been contaminated with another substance. Secondly, when all the substances were in the 12-well dish, it was possible that one substance could have accidentally touched another substance. Another error that could have occurred is that enough time was not given to see the change of color in the various indicator papers. Also if a person’s fingers were contaminated with another acid, base, or neutral solution it could have altered the pH level found for the substance. To ensure the best and most accurate results this experiment could be conducted once more.

Appendix:
12-Well Dish
Blue Litmus Paper
Red Litmus Paper
pH Paper
Shampoo
Lemon Juice
Green Tea
Sprite
Detergent
Milk
Windex