antacid lab

Acids taste sour, are corrosive to metals, change litmus (a dye extracted from lichens) red, and become less acidic when mixed with bases.
Bases feel slippery, change litmus blue, and become less basic when mixed with acids.

 Antacids work by neutralizing acid and coating the stomach.

The opposite of an acid is a base, and that's exactly what an antacid is.

 Antacids make you feel better by increasing the pH balance in your stomach. The pH system is a scale for measuring the acidity or alkalinity of a given environment (in this case, your stomach). The scale goes from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. Below 7 is acid. Above 7 is alkaline.

 

Normally, the acid level in your stomach is about 2 or 3. Trouble may start when your pH drops below those numbers. To make you feel better, an antacid need not bring the pH level all the way up to 7 (neutral), which would be a highly unnatural state for your stomach. In order to work, all the antacid has to do is get you to 3 or 4. It does this by neutralizing some of the excess acid.

 

Due to several complex factors, a base can't neutralize your acid all by itself. A base needs some chemical "helpers," or ingredients, to accompany it as it neutralizes the acid in your stomach.