10 Science - Testing pH

Hello Everyone! 

Today for my blog I will be writing about my first experiment out of 5. Today's experiment was about testing the pH scale. 

We are required to make two blog posts of two experiments out of the five, as regards our grade. 

Please give me feedback by commenting :)

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Aim:

To test the pH of a range of household chemicals. 

Equipment: 

• Variety of household chemicals.
• Spotting tile
• Red litmus paper
• Blue litmus paper
• Universal indicator solution
• Safety glasses
• Pipette

Method:

1. Add a few drops of each chemical to a spot on your spotting line. If a substance is solid or powdered you will need to mix it with a few drops of water before testing. 
2. Test the chemical with both litmus paper.
3. Test each chemical with a few drops of universal indicator. 

As you can see from this example indicator shows the colors of the rainbow, a universal indicator. Indicates whether something is strongly acidic or has a strong base. Red shows that it is a strong acid and violet shows that it is a strong base. Green usually indicates that it is neutral which would be equivalent to water. 

Results:

Chemical being tested	Colour in blue litmus	Colour in red litmus	Colour in the universal indicator
Spray & Wipe	Violet	Blue	Light blue
Fabric softener	Orange	Red	Light orange
Floor Cleaner	Violet	Violet	Yellow
Vinegar	Red	Orange	Orange

Spray & wipe - Base - Because the litmus paper and indicator had turned blue.

Fabric softener - Acid - Because the litmus paper and indicator stayed around 1-4 on the pH scale. 

Floor cleaner - Base - The litmus paper had turned blue, judging by the result I can only tell from the litmus paper. As the indicator turned a completely different color, possibly from mixing in with the chemical color. 

Vinegar - Acid - Because the litmus paper and indicator stayed around 1-4 on the pH scale.

The test of testing the pH scale was to show us how acidic or how much alkali was in the chemicals. As you can see from this table I have shown the results of the experiment. Some of the chemicals depending on their pH scale benefits their cleaning product. 

For example the spray & wipe itś pH scale is base because itś number and colors stay within 8 - 14 or blue to violet. This connects to my recent work from learning about acids and bases. Is that when a base comes in contact with grease or oil it produces a soap that can clean the oil. Since a spray and wipe chemical is usually used to clean that type of particular mess. 

The litmus paper was the thing that mainly showed us whether the chemical was acidic or a base. These papers can only turn red or blue which is a straightforward method. Otherwise, the universal indicator specifically shows us the color it is giving us an idea of the results. 

Here is a photo I had taken of the results: 

(It seems to be a bit blurry)

The results from the experiment weren't what I was expecting, I mean it is an experiment. The colors were all different and depended on whether the chemical has a strong acid or base. Honestly judging by the results it seemed like they were funny enough evenly distributed. The universal indicator is very intriguing and I am still wondering how it detects whether it has a strong base or strong acid. I also wonder how we humans had come to the statement that these colors meant these things. But science is there to provide us a reason or to answer the questions ´why´ or ´how´.