Separation and Identification - Experiment 1 - Chromatography: Can you identify a pen from the way its colors separate?
Experiment 1
Chromatography: Can you identify a pen from the way its colors separate?
Purpose/Hypothesis
Chromatography is a common technique used to identify substances, from drugs in blood samples to a type of pen used in a crime. The word chromatography comes from the Greek word chromato, which means color.
In this experiment, you will use paper chromatography to separate the colors out of four different types of black ink. The color black is a mixture of several colors. Different types of pens mix together varying amounts of colored inks to produce black ink. Once the colors are separated you will have a partner select one of the black pens as the unknown. You will then identify the unknown pen based on the pattern of the colors.
Paper chromatography identifies the parts of a mixture by first treating the paper with a solvent, a...
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