Answer to Question #149305 in General Chemistry for Rahul sah

Question

• How do I know if something is an acid so I can avoid eating it?

Answer 1

There are some simple methods of identification of an acid:

• litmus paper turns red in acidic solutions;
• a bit of baking soda (NaHCO₃) can be added to the unknown solution, and the formation of CO₂ gas (bubbling) is a quite sufficient evidence of the presence of an acid.

However, these options do not allow to determine which specific acid is present. This can only be performed using different methods of qualitative analysis and multiple reactants.