Acids and AlkalisChapter 10Chemistry
2nd week
Detecting acids and alkalis
- Robert Boyle was an Irish scientist who lived 300 years ago.
- He decided to try and find and easy way to identify acids and alkalis.
- He knew that workers in France used plant juices to dye silk clothes.
- So he began testing plant juices to see if they would solve his problem.
- When he used red cabbage juice he found that:
Red cabbage juice
(purple)+ Acid Juice turns red
Red cabbage juice
(purple)+ Alkali Juice turns green
- When he used violets he found that:
+ Acid Juice turns Purple
+ Alkali Juice turns greenish yellow
- He discovered the colour change in litmus (juice from lichen)
- Litmus was used in laboratories around the world.
- It can be used as a solution of absorbed into paper strips.
- There are over 20 indicators that scientists use.
- 2 examples:- Methyl orange:Turns pink in acids.Turns Yellow in Alkalis.
- Phenolphthalein:Turns colourless in acid solutions.Turns Pink in alkaline solutions.
Acid Alkali
AlkaliAcid
pH scale- After indicators where found to identify acids and alkalis,
scientists wanted compare the strength of the acids and alkalis.
- In 1909, a Danish scientist called Soren Sorensen invented a scale called pH scale to compare the strengths.
- pH stand for ‘power of hydrogen’ because all acids hydrogen (active part in the chemical reactions)
- The pH scale starts from 0 – 14.
- The strongest acid is 0 and the strongest alkali is 14.
pH Classification0 - 2 Strong acid3 - 6 Weak acid
7 Neutral8 - 11 Weak alkali
12 - 14 Strong alkali
- N.B. An electrical instrument known as pH meter is used to measure pH accurately.
- The pH indicator is made of a mixture of indicators.
- Each indicator changes colour in the range shown in the scale.
- By combining the indicators a solution is made that gives different colours over the whole range of the scale