Science: Chromatography

Hi there!

Today I will be writing about what we did in Science.

Aim: To separate the different pigments from ink using Chromatography.

Hypothesis: I think my colours will become lighter and stay the same shade as the starting colour. Resulting in one side being a light colour, slowly developing into a darker colour or black. 

Equipment: Felt tip pen, filter paper strips, test tube, measuring cylinder, pencil. 

Method:

1- Draw a line across the filter paper in pencil, 5cm from the bottom.

2- Draw a coloured dot in the centre of the line.

3- Measure out 10mL of water and place in the test tube.

4- Place the filter paper in the test tube and fold over the side. MAKE SURE THE PENCIL LINE IS NOT IN THE WATER.

5- Wait for 5 minutes and observe the results.

Observations: At first nothing really happened, but after about 30 seconds the water slowly reached the dot and it started to bleed out. 

Conclusion: No, my hypothesis wasn't correct. 

Discussion: We made sure to use cold tap water in our experiment and not to let our coloured touch the water as the experiment wouldn't work. Instead of a test tube, we used 200mL beakers and filled them to the 50mL mark. When we placed our Chromatography paper in the beaker the water started to go up slowly to the dot, eventually it reached the top of the beaker. After taking my papers out the colour looked like it was more faded than it was against the beaker. 

Evaluation: I really enjoyed this experiment, I enjoyed watching the water saturate the paper and seeing the colours spread out across the paper. I wouldn't change anything about the experiment. 

Here is a photo of my end outcome:

Thanks for reading!