What is Indicator in chemistry?
Indicator in chemistry
In chemistry, an indicator is a material that is used to notice or find the
- Presence
- Absence
- or concentration of another substance, usually in a solution.
How indicator work?
When indicators come into touch with the chemical they are intended to detect, they experience a noticeable change, such as a colour shift.
Examples:
A few examples of indicator is given below:
Phenolphthalein:
Bromothymol blue:
Methyl orange:
Eriochrome Black T:
Silver nitrate:
Phenolphthalein:
This is an acid-base indicator that is usually utilized in titrations to find the endpoint of an acid-base reaction.
- Phenolphthalein is colorless in acidic solutions
- but turns pink in basic solutions.
Bromothymol blue:
It is called an acid-base indicator and is commonly used in chemistry.
- It is blue in basic solutions and yellow in acidic solutions.
Methyl orange:
It is an acid-base indicator and is commonly used in titrations.
- It is red in acidic solutions and yellow in basic solutions.
Eriochrome Black T:
This is also known as complexometric indicator and is commonly used to determine the endpoint of titrations involving metal ions.
- It is blue in the presence of metal ions and red in the absence of metal ions.
Silver nitrate:
This is a precipitation indicator that is usually used to trace out the presence of chloride ions. When silver nitrate is mixed with a solution containing chloride ions, a white precipitates of silver chloride is formed.