twi 100 words each experiment questions

Chromatography Experiment

What Is Chromatography?

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the wonderful world of chromatography! What is chromatography, you ask?? Well, quite simply, it is a broad range of physical methods used to separate and or to analyze complex mixtures. The components to be separated are distributed between two phases: a stationary phase bed and a mobile phase which percolates through the stationary bed.

How Does It Work? Like Magic!

A mixture of various components enters a chromatography process, and the different components are flushed through the system at different rates. These differential rates of migration as the mixture moves over adsorptive materials provide separation. Repeated sorption/desorption acts that take place during the movement of the sample over the stationary bed determine the rates. The smaller the affinity a molecule has for the stationary phase, the shorter the time spent in a column.

So, Why Is It So Special?

In any chemical or bio-processing industry, the need to separate and purify a product from a complex mixture is a necessary and important step in the production line. Today, there exists a wide market of methods in which industries can accomplish these goals. Chromatography is a very special separation process for a multitude of reasons! First of all, it can separate complex mixtures with great precision. Even very similar components, such as proteins that may only vary by a single amino acid, can be separated with chromatography. In fact, chromatography can purify basically any soluble or volatile substance if the right adsorbent material, carrier fluid, and operating conditions are employed. Second, chromatography can be used to separate delicate products since the conditions under which it is performed are not typically severe. For these reasons, chromatography is quite well suited to a variety of uses in the field of biotechnology, such as separating mixtures of proteins.

In this experiment we are going to learn about chromatography. Chromatography is a way of analyzing the chemical makeup of a mixture by separating it into its component parts. There are several different types of chromatography, but they are all based on the fact that different compounds show differing solubilities in solvents.

You are going to be using a solvent ( water) to separate out the different portions of a solute (e.g., ink particles or food coloring particles). At the molecular level, smaller, hydrophilic molecules migrate faster through the paper. Hydrophilic means a "water-loving" substance. Hydrophobic means not soluble in water. Molecules which are bigger (have a larger mass) move slower along the paper. So the colors left closest to the original start point are made of heavier molecules than those which move further away.

Coffee Filter Chromatography

You will need the following materials:

· glasses or clear plastic cups

· coffee filters

· any color markers

· water

· pencils

Directions for this Experiment:

1) Put about 1 cm of water into the bottom of the glass.

2) Cut a rectangular piece of the coffee filter.

3) Holding the filter paper outside the glass, use the pencil to mark a line on the filter just above the waterline on the glass.

4) Take a cheap marker and put a SMALL dot of color on the marked line.

5) Place the filter paper into the glass, so that the marker dot is just above the water line.

6) Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

7) What observations have you made? What did you learn from this experiment?

Bottled Rainbows

You will need the following materials:

· 1 square of paper towel

· clear plastic cup

· liquid food coloring

· scotch tape

· pencil

Directions for this Experiment:

1) Cut a strip of paper towel about an inch wide and about as long as the cup is tall.

2) Tape one end of the strip to the pencil.

3) Place a drop of food coloring about an inch from the opposite end of the strip.

4) Pour about 1/4 of an inch of water into the cup.

5) Balance the pencil on top of the cup so that the paper hangs down into the water, but the drop of coloring must be above the water.

6) Wait until the water soaks the towel almost to the pencil. Remove and set on a paper towel to dry and be observed.

7). What observations have you made? What did you learn from this experiment?

Please explain in your own words what you learned from coffee filter chromatography Lab keep it simple 100 word or more

Please explain in your own words what you learned from bottled rainbows chromatography Lab keep it simple(100 words or more)