Question Video: Identifying Which Household Items Contain Acids and Which Contain Alkalis Science • First Year of Preparatory School

Video Transcript

Which of the following household items contain acids and which contain alkalis? (A) Cola and car batteries contain acids. Soap, yogurt, toothpaste, and oven cleaners contain alkalis. (B) Cola, car batteries, and oven cleaners contain acids. Soap, yogurt, and toothpaste contain alkalis. (C) Cola, car batteries, and yogurt contain acids. Soap, toothpaste, and oven cleaners contain alkalis. (D) Cola, oven cleaners, and yogurt contain acids. Soap, toothpaste, and car batteries contain alkalis. Or (E) soap, yogurt, and toothpaste contain acids. Cola, car batteries, and oven cleaners contain alkalis.

We need to recall which of the household items contain acids and which contain alkalis. Car batteries contain sulfuric acid, which is an acid. Answer choices (D) and (E) state that car batteries contain alkalis, thus are incorrect.

Oven cleaners contain a soluble base, or alkali, which is used to dissolve fatty deposits. Answer choice (B) states that oven cleaners contain acids, thus is incorrect.

It is common for cleaning products to contain alkalis. And in fact, both soap and toothpaste contain alkalis. Cola, however, is acidic. This is mostly due to the fact that it contains carbonated water and phosphoric acid. Yogurt is also acidic, due to the presence of lactic acid. Answer choice (A) states that yogurt contains alkalis; thus, it is incorrect.

Therefore, answer choice (C) is correct. Cola, car batteries, and yogurt contain acids. Soap, toothpaste, and oven cleaners contain alkalis.