Chromatofly

Purpose:
With the ability to predict the intermolecular forces in different molecules, you should be able to use the IMF and understand how it relates to chromatography. The purpose of this lab is to be able to understand the procedure of chromatography, by reconstructing a specific chromatograph.

Procedure:
Make a hole in the center of the filter paper with the tip of the pencil
Make dots, each with a different marker, around the center of the filter paper
If you want to write on the filter paper, make sure it’s in pencil so it won’t mess up the chromatograph.
Get a cup filled half-way with water, the edge of the cup MUST be dry so it won’t wet the filter paper.
Get another piece of filter paper, quarter the actual size, and make a cone out of it. Put the cone into the center hole of the filter paper.
Next you put the filter paper, with the cone, on top of the cup. Make sure the cone touches the water
After the water has spread out on the filter paper, take it out and let it dry
Lastly, after understanding the process, re-do these steps and do the pattern which the teacher tells you to create

Observations:
As the water began to rise up from the cone and began to wet the filter paper, the black dots began to spread. As the water began to spread, the black dots began to separate and show different colors. As the water began to get closer to the rim of the filter paper, more than one color began to show from the black dots, and some of them extended very long, and other dots didn’t spread that far.

Data:

Analysis Questions:
1. What happened to the black dots as the water spread past them?
The black dots began to “separate” and different colors began to appear. As more water spread past them, more than one color began to appear, and not all of the dots had the same color
2. Identify both the mobile and stationary phase in the experiment.

The mobile phase in the experiment is the solvent, and in this experiment the mobile phase is the moving water. The stationary phase is what makes solvent move through, and in this case the stationary phase would be the filter paper.

3. Explain how water was able to separate the black ink mixture. (Use the concept of polarity)

Water is a polar molecule and while using the concept of like dissolves like, it allows us to confirm that the black ink is polar. With the concept of like dissolves like, polar molecules are attracted to polar molecules, so the black ink was attracted to the water molecule and began to “separate” it. If the black ink was non-polar, then the ink wouldn’t have “separated,” and stayed as black ink and wouldn’t have changed anything.

4. Chromatography can be used on more than just ink. In fact, it is the most commonly used separations and identification technique in the world with literally thousands of applications. Think up other possible applications that it might be used for and explain how they might work. Use some original thought and creativity.

Chromatography is used to see what things make up a certain substance. An example, a forensic scientist might want to see if 2 different writing