Chromatography Flowers

Please read the procedure before beginning! After reading, please watch the video. Some activities require more time and cleanup than others. You also have the choice of performing these activities in a way that suits your needs.

Not for children under 3 years. Adult supervision required. Follow approved procedures.

Materials

· Plastic Cup

· 4 Plastic Bowls

· Water (not included)

· 4 Coffee Filters

· 8 Markers

· OH WOW! Pencil

· 2 Magnetic Clips

· 4 Green Pipe Cleaners

Procedure

1. Fill the plastic cup with water.

2. Pour a small amount of water from the cup into each of the 4 plastic bowls. This activity works with any amount of water, but 1-2 ounces (oz) is ideal, which can be measured using the markings on the plastic cup.

3. Flatten the coffee filters and use the OH WOW! Pencil to make a dot in the center of each coffee filter.

4. Choose one or two markers for each coffee filter. Use the chosen markers to draw a circle (or two circles) around the dot in the center each of the coffee filters. Leave plenty of blank space.

5. Use the pencil to label the coffee filters with the colors that you chose for each one.

6. Place the center of one of the coffee filters over one of the bowls of water, and push it down using the pencil so that only the center is submerged. Do not submerge any of the colored part of the coffee filter.

7. Repeat step 6 with the other three coffee filters and bowls of water, and watch for a few minutes to see what happens.

8. When the coffee filters have absorbed enough water for the chromatography to be complete, there will be multiple colors visible from the initial single-colored circle. At this point, remove each coffee filter, and hang them to dry using the magnetic clips, or place them on trays to dry.

9. When the coffee filters are dry, fold each in half twice—they will be shaped like triangles or pieces of pizza.

10. The pipe cleaners will be the stems of the flowers, and the coffee filters will be the petals. Twist one end of each pipe cleaner around the point of the triangle shape of each coffee filter. You now have a bouquet of chromatography flowers!

The Science Behind It

Have you have wondered what colors are made out of? Now you can physically see them being separated. Chromatography is writing with colors. Today, we will be exploring paper chromatography, which can be used to separate the different dyes in an ink. The pencil dot that you draw on your filter is called a baseline. From there, adding the sample of ink, or marker, you will draw the circles around the dot with different colors. Waiting patiently, you will see the water, or solvent creep up the paper and the dyes slowly seep up the paper around the dot. The marker will separate into the different colors that make up each color. What do you notice about each of the different color markers? Do they travel at the same rate or different rates?