Once you get past the smell, this cabbage science experiment is fascinating. Depending on the liquid's pH, the cabbage juice turns various pink, purple, or blue shades! It's cool to watch, and the kids enjoy it!
We learned that some substances are classified as either an acid or a base.
Acids and bases as opposites—acids have a low pH, and bases have a high pH. For instance, water (a neutral) has a pH of 7 on a scale of 0–14.
We figured out how to tell if a substance is an acid or a base by creating an indicator. An indicator is typically a chemical that changes color if it comes in contact with an acid or a base.
We Filled test tubes with purple cabbage juice. Next, we looked around our home for other household chemicals that we use daily (shampoo, glass cleaner, dish soap, hand soap, salt, ammonia, etc.). We then added a small amount of each household chemical to our cabbage juice. The color change determined if the chemical was an acid (red) or a base (green).