Separating Ink
Materials:
- Chromatography Plate
- Blue, Black and Green Felt Pens
- A Jar
- Acetone
Instructions:
1. Take the chromatography plate and start drawing straight lines at the bottom of the plate. Use the different colors for different lines.
2. Put some acetone in the jar.
3. Dip the end of the plates (the ends with the colored lines) quickly into the acetone then remove it.
4. Lay the chromatography plate down on a table and watch what happens.
The acetone should move up the plates via capillary action and will slowly separate the colors that make up the ink of the pen. You and your child will see that each color is actually made up of several colors. This experiment is a good example of separation, and a good introduction to capillary action.
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