Video Transcript
What color is violet litmus
solution when added to the solution created when magnesium oxide is dissolved in
water?
Litmus solution can be added to
another solution to find out if the solution is acidic, basic, or neutral. Litmus solution has a violet
color. When violet litmus is added to an
acidic solution, it turns red. On the other hand, when violet
litmus is added to a basic solution, or a solution containing an alkali, it turns
blue. If litmus is added to a neutral
solution, it will stay violet in color. A neutral solution is neither
acidic nor basic.
In this question, we are told that
a solution is made by dissolving magnesium oxide in water. We can write the following word
equation to get started. To answer this question, we first
need to figure out if the solution that is being created is acidic, basic, or
neutral.
First of all, magnesium oxide is a
metal oxide. It is an ionic compound composed of
a metal element and oxygen. Magnesium oxide contains the metal
magnesium, which has the chemical symbol Mg, and the nonmetal oxygen, which has the
chemical symbol O. Remember that in the name of an
ionic compound, the name of the second element is changed so that it ends in
I-D-E.
When a metal oxide dissolves in
water, an alkali is produced. This is why metal oxides are also
called basic oxides, since an alkali is a type of base. When magnesium oxide dissolves in
water, it produces the alkali called magnesium hydroxide.
Now, let’s complete our chemical
equation. The chemical formula of water is
H2O. And the chemical formula of
magnesium hydroxide is Mg(OH)2. So, now, we know that the solution
that forms when magnesium oxide dissolves in water is an alkali. This means that when we add violet
litmus to the solution, the color will change to blue.
In conclusion, when violet litmus
is added to the solution created when magnesium oxide is dissolved in water, its
color is blue.
