At home science - Colour changing cabbage experiment - ExpeRimental #17

Make a beautiful colour changing liquid from cabbage juice, and explore the science of indicator solutions in this fun chemistry experiment for children.
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Andy and his nephews Tom and Tom use chopped up cabbage to make a homemade indicator solution. They then experiment with different household liquids to see what colour changes occur. Their experiments with vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, eggs and anything else they can get their hands on show which liquids are acidic and which are alkaline.

Indicator solutions are important in chemistry, as they reveal useful information about the chemical compositions of other substances. In this experiment, acidic liquids turned the liquid red/pink, while alkaline liquids turned the liquid blue.

It’s fun to just look at the colour changes you can get with cabbage juice but this activity is a great way to introduce children to the idea that we can use chemical reactions to learn about the properties of substances.

This series of ExpeRimental is supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

ExpeRimental, brought to you by the Royal Institution of Great Britain, is a series of free short films that make it fun, easy and cheap to do science at home with children aged 4 to 10. Our films give you lots of ideas for kids' activities that will help you explore the world around you, question and experiment together. We'll show you how to do the activity and how to make sure adults and children get the most out of it. Why not have a go and then tell us what you think on our Facebook page?   / ri.experimental  

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