Science Experiment: Chromatography

In this experiment, we found out that the colours in some things (like marker ink and smarties) are actually made up of different colours.  We used filter paper to disperse the colours in a black crayola marker and some different colour smarties.  Because the chemicals used to make each colour have different properties, they get "soaked up" in filter paper at different speeds.  This means we see some of the different colours race out in front of other colours.  We used water to speed up the absorption of the colours in the filter paper.

Here's what happened when I drew a small black dot on some filter paper, and then added a bit of water:

The most obvious colour coming from the black is blue, but there's definitely bits of green and even some pink we think.

I then tried putting some different coloured smarties on the filter paper, and adding some water.  We waited a long time, but not very much unexpected happened:

I think some yellow came from the green smartie, and some green came from the brown smartie, and come purple came from the red one?  It was hard too tell, and took a while.

Next we wrote my name on the filter paper using the same black crayola marker as above -- I wrote it once, and my dad wrote it once, then we added water:

You can see lots of blue here, some green and pink again too.

For the last experiment, we cut a strip from the middle of the filter paper, and bent it down into a cup of water.  I drew another black dot in the middle of the filter paper at the base of the strip.  The water, although slowly, eventually wicked its way up the paper and to the dot.  This was very interesting because even though it was the same marker and the same water, we definitely saw different colours this time:

Most noticeable this time is the orangey-brown colour.  But there is also a turquoise wisp, along with the blue we saw before.  The pattern it made this time, just from a small dot, is very interesting.

I had fun doing this, mostly due to my discovery that smarties taste very good when they are wet.  I also learned that the colours in some things are actually made up of different colours put together.