You have been provided with three test tubes. One of 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?
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Solution
Using red litmus paper, we can determine the contents of each test tube. This can be accomplished by observing the color shift of the red litmus paper:
A few drops of each of the 3 samples in the test tubes are added separately to the litmus paper.
A basic solution in one of the test tubes turns red litmus paper blue.
Separate the blue litmus paper into two halves and a few drops of each of the remaining 2 samples in the test tubes should be added separately to the blue litmus paper.
Now, the acidic solution will be the solution in the test tube that turns blue litmus paper red.
Distilled water is present in test-tube solutions that do not change the color of either red or blue litmus paper.
