I found this experiment on permanent markers and I will be cutting out paper strips, and I have to draw a small dot near the bottom of the strip using the permanent marker and then hang it into a jar of 'solvent' (water, vinegar, nail polish remover.. etc) and my teacher said something about looking for the colors of the 'dot' rising up? what is the aim of this experiment? what is it investigating? T_T and what kind of markers should i be using? 3 markers of the same brand but different color? i'm really lost...
2007-08-10 21:10:39 · 4 answers · asked by another_labelx 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
I found this experiment on permanent markers and I will be cutting out paper strips, and I have to draw a small dot near the bottom of the strip using the permanent marker and then hang it into a jar of 'solvent' (water, vinegar, nail polish remover.. etc) and my teacher said something about looking for the colors of the 'dot' rising up? what is the aim of this experiment? what is it investigating? T_T and what kind of markers should i be using? 3 markers of the same brand but different color? i'm really lost...
*edit*
is it okay if i use paper towel instead of filter paper? and what should the aim be of my experiment?
2007-08-10 23:07:31 · update #1
You are investigating chromatography. Permanent markers may or may not work, as different inks require different solvents. As the inks dissolve, what you will see are the different colors that comprise each color of ink, i.e. green should show you yellow and blue, orange should yield red and yellow, black almost all the colors, etc. Use paper like filter paper used in coffee filters. it works much better. Same brand, different color pens are fine. Try different solvents if water doesn't work. Don't worry, relax. You'll do fine. This one is easy, ad kind of fun to see the patterns of the colors. I like to use a circular piece, with one strip cut that hangs into the solvent. The colors make circular patterns on the filter paper. Quite pretty.
2007-08-10 21:25:20 · answer #1 · answered by bodicea77 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is how different chemicals are separated on occasion, especially when the chemicals are all soluble in the same solvents. It works good with markers and dyes as they have colors to see, but this can also be done with chemicals that have no color to see. What is happening is that the chemicals are dissolving in the solvent and being carried up the strip of paper (usually like a filter paper). The different chemicals will only rise to a certain point and then stop, the lighter chemicals still raising until they end up stopping finally. In this way, even things like markers from the same manufacturer, that one would think should be the same but different colors, will leave distinct layers of dyes/ chemicals at different heights from the solvent, and different also with different solvents. Cutting each of those colored layers out is separating the different chemicals, and they can be reconstituted separately in their respective solvents.
2007-08-10 21:24:19 · answer #2 · answered by mike453683 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The idea is to determine what solvents will dissolve the dyes in the magic marker spots. You can try permanent markers, dry-erase markers, or highlighting markers, all of whose properties may be different.
2007-08-10 21:22:27 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chromatography is the answer, and I'm amazed that your teacher hasn't mentioned the word.
The inks will separate out into spots of different colours, and these will tell you what mixture of dyes was present in each ink.
Using different pens will show you that virtually all inks are really mixtures, and not a single colour.
2007-08-10 21:16:10 · answer #4 · answered by Gervald F 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋