Make Your Own PH Paper (Creative Chemistry Experiments)

You will need:

1. Red or purple cabbage
2. Filter paper or coffee
   filter
3. Blender or knife
4. Microwave or another
   heat source
5. Strainer
6. Water

Chemistry is not apart from, but a part of Nature. As a result, we find many fruits and vegetables that are good indicators of basic or acidic substances. Try this fun experiment using red or purple cabbage, to test the Ph balance of household food items.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take a red or purple cabbage and chop it up into small pieces to put into a blender. Add very little water to this so as to keep the juice as concentrated as possible.
2. Heat the blended cabbage in a microwave till it is nearly boiling.
3. Remove it from the microwave and let it completely cool for about 10-15 minutes.
4. Strain the cabbage-concentrated juice and soak the filter paper into the concentrate.
5. The paper should become deeply coloured.
6. Let the filter paper dry completely.
7. Once dried, cut up the paper in rectangular shapes and voila! Your litmus paper is ready to use.

RESULT

Boiling the cabbage releases pigment molecules known as anthocyanins which change colour based on the Ph levels of the substance they come into contact with. When it comes in contact with an acidic substance, it turns pink, and when it touches a basic substance, it turns green.