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What is pH?

Without going into the really sciencey stuff, pH tells you whether something is an acid or a base and how much so. If something has high pH it is basic and if it has low pH it is acidic.

What is an indicator?

Something that shows you the pH of something. Aquarium test strips are an example of an indicator.

Step 1:

Put water and blueberries into a pan. Try and use as little water as possible because the more concentrated the mixture is, the more accurate it will be.

Step 2:

Put it on the stove and boil it. Once it’s boiling let it boil for 5+ minutes. By the time it is done boiling it should be a purplish-pink color

Step 3:

strain out the chunks of blueberries so that you just have the colored water. You can use either a strainer or a coffee filter.

Step 4:

Now you have your indicator and are ready to test some stuff out!! Things that are bases will turn purple or blue while acids will turn into a red or pink. Try to use an equal amount of indicator and liquid that you are testing for more accurate results. Some things that you can test that are acids are vinegar and lemon juice and some bases are things like laundry detergent and soap. It’s also really fun to experiment with other things around your house to see what happens.

note: you can use this to test your aquarium water but remember that this is NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE. Please do not entirely rely on this for testing aquarium pH and do not take the results for fact.

additional note: keep in mind that the changes will be subtle and might be hard to differentiate or might be inaccurate

my results:

vinegar

my aquarium water