Observing and Inferring | Semester 1, Unit 1

LAB 1:
OBSERVING AND INFERRING
NOTE TO STUDENTS: This is a dry lab. You are only expected to perform the portions of this lab that do not require you
WITH EXTENSION
to use laboratory equipment or supplies. When appropriate, sample data may be supplied in the lab’s data tables to help
you answer the questions.

Goals While inferences are in a way, an educated

guess, they can be used to help guide us
You are already an inference maker. The goal into greater scientific truth.
of this lab is to show you how to formalize In this lab, you will exercise and
your inferences refine your already innate ability to
make inferences into the unknown. Your
Materials and Equipment inferences will be grounded in known
information, and guided by science.
0.1M HCl (an acid)
0.1M KOH (a base) Procedure
Bromothymol blue (BTB)
Goggles First, you will be seeing how a drop of each
Ruler with mm markings of the reagents wicks through paper.
SAVE THE PAPER TOWEL USED IN EACH STEP
Materials Not Included FOR LATER STEPS.

Paper towels 1. Fold a white paper towel so that it is four

layers thick and flatten it.
Introduction
2. Drop 1 drop of acid (0.1M HCl) onto
Inference (noun): A conclusion reached a paper towel, wait one minute, then
upon the basis of evidence and reasoning. measure how far it wicked out into the
Synonyms: Deduction, conclusion, paper towel. Record the diameter of the
reasoning, conjecture, speculation, guess, drop in Table 1.1 in mm.
presumption, assumption, supposition,
reckoning, extrapolation. 3. Repeat Step 2 but use a drop of base
Everyone often uses inferences. If (0.1M KOH) instead.
someone comes in from outside and is
all wet, you might infer that it is raining 4. Repeat Step 2 but use a drop of
outside. You see a trash can rolling down bromothymol blue (BTB) instead.
the road and you might infer it is windy NOTE: This is a solution of 99.96%
outside. Sometimes we use inferences to water and 0.04% BTB.
predict something. For example, you see
dark rolling clouds. You might infer that it a. When you measure the diameter of
is going to rain. if you see the numbers 2, 4, the BTB drop, you will notice that the
6, and 8, and you had to infer what number BTB color is not evident out as far as the
would come next in the pattern, you would liquid wicks. That is, it appears that the
predict 10. Inferences are even used in BTB is retained by the paper while the
the sciences. For instance, a meteorologist water is relatively free to keep wicking
(scientist who studies weather and climate) outward. Record (in Table 1.1) both the
might gather data and, based on that data, total diameter of the wet spot and the
and infer there is a high chance of rain. smaller diameter of the BTB-colored
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Table 1.1
Reagent Diameter that 1 drop
of liquid wicked

Acid (HCl) 21 mm

Base (KOH) 23 mm

Diameter BTB’s Color of BTB as it

color wicked remained on paper

Bromothymol blue
20 mm 10 mm Yellowish blue
(BTB), 0.04%

region within the wet spot. Fourth, you will see what happens when the
drops merge on the paper towel.
b. Also, record what happened to the
color of the bromothymol blue as it 1. Fold a new piece of white paper towel so
remained on the paper in contrast to its that it is four layers thick and flatten it.
color in the bottle.
2. You will drop a drop of acid and a drop
Second, you will see what happens when of base side by side on the paper towel
BTB is added to the drop of acid or base. such that they will wick close to each
other. Use your previous diameter
1. To your drop of acid that wicked into the measurements to determine how close
paper towel, add 1 drop of BTB. Record you should place these drops.
the color in Table 1.2.
3. Next, drop a drop of BTB directly in
2. To your drop of base that wicked into between the drop of acid and the drop
the paper towel, add 1 drop of BTB. of base, and begin observing color
Record the color in Table 1.2. changes. Record these initial color
changes and the stagnant colors. You
Third, you will see what happens when your have space for only five observations in
previous acid plus BTB drop and base plus Table 1.4, so pick your favorite five.
BTB drop have acid or base added to them
respectively.

1. To your drop of acid plus a drop of BTB

(currently a colored spot on the paper
towel), add 1 drop of base. Record the
resultant color in Table 1.3.

2. To your drop of base plus a drop of BTB

(currently a colored spot on the paper
towel), add 1 drop of acid. Record the
resultant color in Table 1.3.

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 Observing and Inferring

Table 1.2
Observation Your inference
Color of BTB drop on previous acid drop is: (sample inference ) BTB in the presence of
acid is colored
__________________________________
Yellow, but not all the way out
______________________
Color of BTB drop on previous base drop is:
BTB in the presence of base is colored blue.
__________________________________
Blue

Color of drop of BTB while still in the bottle is:

While BTB was still in the bottle, before
__________________________________
Blue adding anything is colored blue.

Color of BTB on paper is:

BTB stained on paper is colored yellowish blue.
__________________________________
Yellowish blue

Table 1.3
Observation Your inference about what happened
Color when a drop of base is added to Drop of base in the presence of previous acid
plus BTB spot is colored blue. When only BTB
previous acid plus BTB spot:
drop and acid drop were reacted, the color
__________________________________
Blue was blended yellow. It turns to blue from
blended yellow when a drop of base is added.
Color when a drop of acid is added to Drop of acid in the presence of previous base
previous base plus BTB spot: plus BTB spot is colored yellow. When only
BTB drop and base drop were reacted, the
__________________________________
Yellow color was blue. It turns to yellow from blue
when a drop of acid is addded.

Table 1.4
Observation Your inference about what happened

Where drop of BTB wicked into acid the When drop of BTB is wicked into and
reacted with the acid, the area where
color is bright yellow.
it got wicked into is bright yellow.

When drop of BTB is wicked into and reacted with

Where drop of BTB wicked into base the the base, the area where it got wicked into is
color is bright blue. bright blue.

The region where the BTB wicked into The reaction between BTB and the base is
the base was larger than the region it stronger than the reaction between BTB and
wicked into the acid. the acid.

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LAB 1
Questions for Observing and Inferring

1. For this question use the necessary data from Table 1.1. Even though you don’t know
the absolute concentration of the BTB on the paper towel as it wicks out, you can
graph its relative concentration. Assume that the highest concentration of BTB is at
the center of the drop. For convenience, call this highest concentration “100” and call
the concentration at the drops outermost edge “0”. (You do not need to assign units,
because the concentrations you are graphing are relative concentrations.)

a. Draw a graph that shows the relative concentration of BTB from the center of the
drop to the edge of where the paper was wet.
See sample graph below question 3 below.
b. In the above graph, did you have the concentration go to zero when you could no
longer see BTB? Or did you assume BTB was still there albeit at invisible levels?

The concentration go to zero when I could no longer see BTB. The

concentration get lower and lower as the drop spread into the outermost edge.

c. Shade in the portions of both graphs where you were making assumptions (saying
things you have no evidence for) about the concentration of BTB.

——>
2. From your data, could you infer that the paper towel is acidic? Explain.

No, the paper towel is not acidic. The color of BTB as it remained
on the paper towel is yellowish blue.

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 Observing and Inferring

3. How could you prove that your inference about the acidity of the paper is true?

The paper towel is close to neutral condition (pH of 7) because the color of BTB
as it remained on paper towel is yellowish blue, which is kind of indicating to
green color. If bromothymol blue has turned into green, it means the ph level is
seven, neutral.

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