Question

You have been provided with three test tubes, one of the them contains distilled water and the other two contain an acidic solution and a basic solution respectively. If you are given only red litmus paper; how will you identify the contents of each test tube?

Answer 1

Hint: By using litmus paper we can find the given solution is an acid or a base. Acid converts blue litmus paper into red litmus paper and base converts red litmus paper into blue litmus paper.

Complete answer:
-In the question it is given that there are three test tubes, one test tube contains distill water.
-The other two test tubes contain acidic solution and basic solution.
-It is given that we have only red litmus paper with us and we have to identify the contents present in each test tube.
-Now we have to add a few drops of each solution from all the three test tubes on the red litmus paper separately.
-The solution which turns red litmus to blue contains the basic solution.
-After identifying the basic solution, use that blue litmus paper to test the other two solutions in the other two test tubes.
-The solution in the test tube which turns blue litmus paper to red is the acidic solution and the solution which does not change either red or blue litmus paper is nothing but the solution is water.

Note:
Litmus is a mixture which is soluble in water and it is extracted from different dyes of lichens. It is frequently adsorbed on the filter paper to prepare one of the oldest forms to find the pH. Litmus is used to test materials to find the acidity.