Chromatography for Kids

 Felt pens are often mixes of several coloured dyes.


 We separated these combinations of colours through a process called chromatography.

 This is what we did:- We had filter paper strips stuck to a kebab stick, plastic cups, water , and our felt pens (which are water soluble)
We put a couple of different coloured dots near the bottom of our strips of filter paper and placed them in the cups.

We put some water in the bottom of the cups – but only enough to touch the bottom of the filter paper.

We observed the colours moving up the filter and how the colours split up.

 What's Happening? When the liquid creeps up the coffee filter, it dissolves the colouring molecules and splits it into different coloured chemicals. Different colours get carried along faster and farther than others because some colour molecules are bigger and heavier than others. http://www.education.com/activity/article/Color_Science_kindergarten/

MMs and Chromatography

We put 6 different mms on a plate – not touching. Then we added a drop of water on each one – to get colour off each mm. (A tricky process)

While that was happening we prepared our filter paper by sticking it to a stick and putting a starting line on it 2cm up.

Next we used a toothpick to put an extract of colour from mms onto starting line and used the Air to dry colours on paper

We put a bit of water in the bottom of a glass and then place our paper into water

We watched the paper absorb the water and take the colour up the paper