Indicator Lab Report

Red Apple Indicator

Burcuhan Oysul
10A
Partner: Asl Akova
September 30, 2013

Indicator Lab Report

Red Apple Indicator

Purpose
To describe tests that can be used to distinguish an acid from
a base, classify various solutions as acidic or basic, given their
pH and make a household indicator using red apples.
Materials

3 red apples

1 small dropper bottle containing 0.1 M NaOH

1 small dropper bottle containing 0.1 M HCl

1 Bunsen burner

1 ring stand with rings

2-250 mL beaker

1 wire gauze

100 mL distilled water (though tap water may be used)

2 kitchen knives

6 watch glasses

1 filter paper and funnel to remove the pulp from each extract

pipette

Procedure
1. Peal the apple skins using a knife.
2. Place the apple skin on a scale. (You need 60g of apple skin)
3. Add 100 mL of water into a beaker.

4. Add the apple skins into the beaker.

5. Boil the beaker for 30 minutes.
6. Let the apple skin mixture cool down to room temperature.
7. Pour the apple skin mixture into a beaker through a filter
funnel (you get the red apple indicator)
8. In a watch glass, add 10 drops of NaOH.
9. Add 10 drops of red apple indicator.
10.
Repeat steps 9 and 10, 2 more times (to make sure data
is correct)
11.
Repeat steps 9 and 10, 3 more times with the HCl
solution.

Safety Concerns
1. All students should wear goggles during the entire lab.
2. Care should be exercised before letting students use knives to
cut up vegetables. Only high school students should be
permitted to use knives, and even then only if they are mature
enough to handle them. If you are not sure, DO NOT USE
KNIVES!
3. The boiling extracts tend to splash somewhat. Make sure all
possible safety precautions involving the use of Bunsen
burners and boiling liquids are used.
4. The small quantities of HCL and NaOH used in the lab are still
enough to cause injury, especially to the eyes.
Hypothesis
We predict that if we use red apple as an indicator for acids
and bases and add it to NaOH and HCl, indicator in NaOH will
turn yellow and indicator in HCl will turn pink.
Observations
When indicator was added:

NaOH turned greenish yellow

HCl turned pink

Roblems or mistakes:

Used hot plate instead of Bunsen burner because the

Bunsen burner didnt work. The result was not affected,
but the change can be the reason it took time for the
apple skin to boil.

Boiled the apple skin for 30 minutes instead of 5 because it

took time for the red apple skin to give its color.

Using a pipette to drop red apple indicator solution

drops would have been easier.

Results
When the red apple indicator was added to NaOH, it turned
greenish yellow. Adding the red apple indicator turned HCl to
pink.
While carrying out the experiment, we faced a few problems.
The Bunsen burner didnt work. After a few trials, we began
using hot plate instead. Using hot plate may be the reason the
apple skin solution didnt boil and give off color as fast as we
thought it would. It took 30 minutes for the apple skin to give
its color instead of 5 minutes like we expected. After the red
apple indicator was made, we had a hard time dropping the
indicator drops. A pipette would have been useful in this step.
Instead, we poured little amounts of the indicator in the watch
glasses.

Analysis
The skin of red apple has anthocyanin in it. This substance
gives the color of the red apple indicator solution. When the
apple skin was boiled, the substance passed on to the water,
and gave it a pinkish, yellowish orange color. Anthocyanin
changed color when the indicator solution was added to NaOH
and HCl. Not having an indicator concentrated enough with
anthocyanin (the red apple indicator would not be colored)
could have been a problem. Then, it would be hard to observe
the color change. To solve the problem, we could have made
an indicator using less water and more apple skin. Also, using
redder apple instead of yellowish red apples could be another
solution since redder apples have more anthocyanin. If the
Bunsen burner doesnt work, hot plate or even a stove can be
used. To make sure the results are absolutely accurate, the pH

testing can be made a couple of times. We did the testing 3

times for each substance to make sure we were precise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our hypothesis was right. Our results were
accurate because the indicator changed color as need and
precise because it was the same color in all three trials.
Anthocyanin, a weak acid found in red apple skin, worked as
an indicator. NaOH turned greenish yellow. This shows that
NaOH is a base. Since we already know its a base, we can
conclude that our homemade indicator was made correctly.
HCl turned pink when the red apple indicator was added. It
was proved that HCl was an acid. We also proved the indicator
was working correctly with acids. Anthocyanin turns greenish
yellow in bases and pink in acids. Therefore, we can conclude
that the red apple indicator did in fact have anthocyanin in it.
A test was described to distinguish between an acid and a
base. When we tested the test, we found out that the
description was successful, only little adjustments like
increasing the boiling temperature, and adding a pipette to
the materials list to make adding the indicator easier could be
made. We were able to classify NaOH as basic and HCl as
acidic, using our homemade indicator. And most importantly,
we were able to make a household indicator that worked
properly, using red apples and some water. A pH indicator
changes color with pH. When added to different substances,
different colors can be maintained. Our red apple solution
worked just like the definition describes. Acidic HCl had H +
ions like all acids, and NaOH had OH - ions like all bases. The
indicator reacted to these ions and changed color accordingly.

Bibliography

Anthocyanins in red cabbage. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/isr/tigerchem/pH/cabbage2.htm
Grace, C. (Producer). (2012, June 24). Red Apple Skin pH Indicator [Web

Video]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lisjd6MAPQs&noredirect=1
O, S. (2008). What kind of apple will be used as ph indicator?. Retrieved from
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080729032604AAvb3bt