Acids and Bases:

Neutralizing Acids and Bases

Aim: Neutralize Sodium Carbonate using Hydrochloric Acid

Equipment: 

• Test tube
• Test tube rack
• Sodium Carbonate 
• Hydrochloric acid 
• Dropper bottle/pipette 
• Universal indicator solution 

Method

1. Place 1-2 mL of Sodium Carbonate into test tube. Add 3 drops of universal indicator
2. Using a dropper bottle add Hydrochloric Acid and Sodium Carbonate one at a time until the solution is neutralized. You'll need to do this in drops otherwise you could potentially miss the neutralization point.

Discussion: As you can see in the middle we managed to get the colour green which represents the liquid being neutral. If we were to add too much acid it would begin to turn either red, yellow or orange and once we began to add alkaline it turned either blue or purple. 

Conclusion: In the end, we made the liquid neutral, and so we completed our aim. 

Understanding the pH level:

The pH level is a scale from 1 - 14, 1 being the strongly acidic and 14 being strongly basic or alkaline (Alkali is another word for basic). The middle is 7 or green which means the liquid would be neutral - in other words, it's not an acid or base, it just normal. 

Indicators:

The way we identify whether a liquid is an acid or base is we use Universal indicators. A universal indicator is a liquid where you would just put in a drop of this and it will determine if the solution is an acid or base by changing its colour. Another version we use to identify a solution is the litmus indicator. A litmus indicator comes in a paper form and a solution. Litmus indicator solution turns red in acidic solutions and blue in alkaline solutions. (paper form) Blue litmus paper turns red when the liquid is acidic and it remains blue when it is alkaline.