- Cut a strip of coffee filter
- Mark a dot on it with water soluble marker
- Fill a glass with water just high enough to wet the end of the strip of paper when it dangles into the glass
- Attach the strip to a pencil so that the pencil will bridge the mouth of the glass and allow the strip to dangle into the water
- Watch the water creep up the strip, taking the pigment with it, and, it your strip is long enough, separating out into the different pigments that made up that color of marker
I fudged just a bit and used this to help explain how plants “suck” water up from the ground with their roots. Not exactly the same process, because for plants it’s really capillary action, but similar enough.
Have you ever tried this with leaves? We’ve tried twice and it’s supposed to separate all the pigments of the leaves, but all we get is green. We’ll have to try again this summer.
I did try it once, and didn’t have any better luck. Supposedly there’s orange in there, and there must be, for the leaves to be orange in the fall…
To get optimum and successfull results, I always use spinch extract. If I am feeling really excited I will use the supernantant. Have fun and Good luck!
hi…paper chromatography is really an interesting activity!!!
bye… take care