Lime
water is an opponent of acids: It turns the red colour of sour cherry juice
to green.
Cherry juice is an
indicator
for acids (red) and for their opponents. Universal indicator solution
(U.I.) is a better indicator.
Acidic
soils contain acids. Opponents of acids are present in lime soils (= alkaline
soils).
* Right: Put
2 g of different soils into the vials 1, 2, 3, 4, T, mix them with
5 ml distilled water.
* Close these vials, shake
them for a while, leave them for sedimentation.
* Left: Take a syringe
to transfer 0.5 ml of each solution into different cavities of a blister
packing.
Add 1 drop
of U.I. to each sample.
Observation:
Forest soil (3) and field soil 4 are as acidic as vinegar (control K),
clay soil from the Red Sea (T) are alkaline, the other soils contain
few acid.