Question

Nitric acid turns red litmus blue. State whether the statement is true or false? Justify your answer.

Answer 1

Hint: The acidic and basic nature of the component or substance is found by the value of its pH, when the pH of the substance lies between 0 – 6.9 then it is acid, and when the pH of the substance lies between 7.1 – 14 so, they are tested by litmus paper, by a change in the color of the litmus paper we can find the nature of the component.

Complete answer:
A substance can be differentiated as acid or base on the basis of pH meter, i.e., if the substance has a pH between 0 – 6.9 then, it is an acid and if the substance has a pH between 7.1 – 14 then, it is a base.
As we know that there are two common litmus papers, i.e., blue litmus paper and red litmus paper. Blue litmus paper is used to test acid while red litmus paper is used to test base. Blue litmus turns to red in the acidic compound and red litmus turns to blue in the basic compound.
So, the given statement is “Nitric acid turns red litmus blue”. This statement is false because nitric acid is acid and it is a strong acid whose pH is less than 3, so it will turn blue litmus to red. When it is treated with red litmus there will be no change in the color.

Note:
If the compound is neutral, i.e., having a pH 7, then there will be no change in both the litmus paper. Some examples of compounds that can turn blue litmus to red are sulfuric acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, etc and examples of compounds that can turn red litmus to blue are sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, etc.