Science Is Fun! Acids and Bases Lab

This lab is one that I used with my 6th grade student teaching placement. They loved it! Hope it helps with your students!

Red cabbage juice is an indicator, so it will change color based on if something is a acid or a base. If you mix it with an acid it will turn red, if you mix it with a base it will turn blue.
To make cabbage juice all you need is

• A head of red cabbage
• Cheese grater
• Water
• Strainer

Take your head of cabbage and grate it into a bowl. Cover it with water and let it sit for a few hours (warning this does smell very bad and the sent will linger). After a few hours strain out the cabbage and there you have it cabbage juice!

I didn't have a long class period so I pre-measured the cabbage juice into containers for my student but you could let your students to this part. I split my class into groups of 5 and gave them 6 beakers with an 1/8 of a cup of cabbage juice. I then had table spoon for each group. I had 6 chemicals to test (one for each beaker) I gave my students lemon juice, Windex, dish soap, water, baking soda, and vinegar. I would have the students pass the chemicals around to each group. I had the class mix a tablespoon of each into the cabbage juice then record what happened.

If you have a short class period or cannot do this experiment in class there is a virtual one online. PBS Zoom does a great job. Here is a link Cabbage Juice

I had my students keep a lab binder. For each lab we did I gave them a hand out (which I had hole bunched) and they put it in their groups binder. This is an idea of a handout I would use for this lab.

Names:
Directions: Write what chemical you are using on the line. Then add one table spoon of that chemical to the cabbage juice. Color the beaker either red or blue depending on the result of your experiment. Write if the chemical is an acid or a base on the line.

(I would have 6 of these for each chemical but you get the idea)

Chemical Name:________________________
Acid or Base:__________________________