My students have enjoyed the Cabbage Juice Lab over the years – and yes, it does smell!
Materials per group of 3-4 students:
- Student Handout (pdf)
- Cabbage Juice in an Erlenmeyer Flask with a pipette
- micro-wells or small clear bathroom cups
- litmus paper – blue and red
- toothpicks
- ‘garbage’ cup
- beakers and pipettes for each solution
- Substances to test – diluted in water
- You can have all of these set up at one station and students can pick one up and take one to their desk for testing, then return it to the station and choose another substance- you don’t have to have a complete set for each group.
- vinegar
- lemon juice
- lime juice
- pickle juice
- baking soda
- salt
- sugar
- detergent
- hand sanitizer
- alka seltzer tablets
- bleach
- ammonia
- You can have all of these set up at one station and students can pick one up and take one to their desk for testing, then return it to the station and choose another substance- you don’t have to have a complete set for each group.
Additional Resources:
- Teach Engineering Lesson Plan
- BrainPOP Movie: pH
- BrainPOP Virtual Lab: pH Scale and Meter Calibration – interactive website
- BrainPOP Virtual Lab: Salsa – interactive website
- Alien Juice Bar (blog entry) – interactive website with a guided handout
Middle School Science Blog 