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?

Divide the blue litmus paper in half and add a few drops of each of the remaining 2 samples in the test tubes separately to the blue litmus paper. Now the acidic solution will be the solution in the test tube that turns the 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.

History of Litmus paper

• A Spanish physician, Arnaldus de Villa Nova, used litmus around 1300 for the first time. The blue dye was obtained from lichens of the 16th century, particularly in the Netherlands.
• Wood pulp, lichens, and additional compounds are the essential raw materials made use of to produce litmus paper. It is mainly made of paper, according to its name. It must not contain pollutants that can affect the pH of the tested system.
• Lichens are used to produce litmus. It has a violet (purple) hue in distilled water. When added to an acidic solution, it turns red, and it turns blue when added to a basic solution. Consequently, it is used to determine if a solution is basic or acidic.

Summary:

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?

The contents of each test using red litmus paper is mentioned above. Litmus paper is used to test that a solution’s nature in acidic or basic.If blue litmus paper turns into red, then it’s acidic in Nature.