Harry Potter: Colorful Chemical Clues
"What? Why the heck are there a bunch of bright colors all over the table?" Ron asked in confusion.
"Easy, Weasley," said Mr. Johnson. "We're talking about acids and bases today, and indicators."
Ron scratched his head. "What's an indicator?"
"We're going to discuss that," Mr. Johnson said, making his way to the front of the classroom. "Acids have hydronium ions. They have a pH between 0 and 7. Acids have a sour flavor, and they're very corrosive to metals. Any questions so far?"
"What's a pH?" Seamus asked.
"Moving on," Mr. Johnson said. "They have hydroxide ions, and a pH between 7 and 14. They are bitter and slippery. Any questions now?"
In actuality, Harry had too many questions to be answered, but he kept quiet. He could have Hermione explain all this to him later.
"And now quickly: neutralization. Acids and bases neutralize each other because of the positive-negative ions react to form water and salt, both which are neutral."
The class stayed in a confused silence.
"Now we shall begin our experiment with inhibitors. We will use these to find out whether the substance is an acid or a base. Go."
Confused and angry, the witches and wizards made their way to the lab stations, making sure to put on goggles, but only because Mr. Johnson insisted. With Seamus Finnigan as a witness, they'd been near worse things without goggles.
"So…what're we supposed to do?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Put a drop of the liquid on the red litmus paper," she said. "And then one on the blue."
Harry did as she said. Nothing happened on the red paper, but to his surprise, the blue paper turned red the moment the liquid touched it.
"Woah," said Harry.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" Hermione said. "That means it's an acid. Now try the next liquid. Drop them on both pieces of the paper."
Ron did as she said, but this time nothing happened to the blue paper. But when it came in contact with the red paper, it turned blue. Ron's eyes widened in surprise.
"Bloody hell! It magically turned blue!" Ron said.
Hermione smiled. "It's not magic. It's science."
"Ugh. Science again. I swear this class gets harder every day," Harry said.
"Now we have to do a cabbage juice test. Put the cabbage juice in the liquids."
Harry and Ron took turns squeezing the cabbage juice into the liquids, and to their surprise, they started turning weird colors like pink and purple and green.
"How the heck does it do that?" Harry asked.
"Science," Hermione said.
"I didn't ask for the real answer."
And then the bell rung, dismissing the class.
