Turmeric is a naturally yellow mixture that acts as our chemical indicator. We really want to focus on the turmeric in this mixture because it contributes the most to the color change we discover. Now let’s talk about our turmeric and rubbing alcohol.The baking soda in the mixture acts as a base. Let’s first talk about our baking soda and water mixture! This mixture was clear and is our “invisible ink”. In this experiment, the first solution was baking soda and water and the second was turmeric and rubbing alcohol.Can you think of some solutions that you have seen before? A solution is a liquid that is a mixture of two or more things that cannot be easily separated. For our experiment we used two different solutions.When we spread our turmeric mixture on the paper, it turned the secret message red because our baking soda mixture is a base. Curcumin is a chemical indicator that changes red when combined with bases and yellow when with acids.

What did you notice when we put the turmeric mixture on our paper? It turns red because of a chemical named Curcumin. We use it in our 2nd mixture with rubbing alcohol.

Turmeric, one of our ingredients, is one example of a chemical indicator. A chemical indicator is a fancy term for something that can tell us if a solution is an acid or a base. Something really important to this experiment is a chemical indicator.

The reason we mix baking soda with water is for it to dissolve so we can spread it on our paper easier.

We also use turmeric and rubbing alcohol to reveal our secret message.

Baking soda and water make up our “invisible ink”.

Download invisible ink steam for free