How does ink travel up a paper towel?
When the water reaches the ink, it dissolves some of the dyes in the ink, and the dyes travel up the paper towel with the water. That’s how you can see all the different colors that make up the ink. Try it out with different types of pens. Does a smelly marker make a different pattern than a non-smelly marker?
How is ink chromatography done with a pen?
Even though a pen will only write in one color, the ink is actually made from a mixture of different colored pigments. To perform ink chromatography, you put a small dot of ink to be separated at one end of a strip of filter paper. This end of the paper strip is placed in a solvent.
How do you do chromatography with paper towels?
The water should creep up the paper towel strips and separate each ink mark into a cool dye pattern. This is called chromatography. Now here’s how to use this cool ZOOMsci to solve a mystery. Have a friend or a grown-up write a note on a paper towel using one of the pens, but make sure you don’t know which pen is being used.
What’s the best way to dye paper towels?
Hang the strips over a bowl of water. The water should touch the very end of the paper towel, but not the ink. Tape the paper towels in place and wait to see what happens. The water should creep up the paper towel strips and separate each ink mark into a cool dye pattern. This is called chromatography.
When the water reaches the ink, it dissolves some of the dyes in the ink, and the dyes travel up the paper towel with the water. That’s how you can see all the different colors that make up the ink. Try it out with different types of pens. Does a smelly marker make a different pattern than a non-smelly marker?
Can a paper towel be used to chromatography a fountain pen?
Make sure to wait so that all of the colors separate out. If you use a paper towel or coffee filter you can use the same process, but you can also do it laying flat. Simply add a drop or two of water to the ink sample. This will cause the ink to spread out in a radial pattern, but the results won’t be affected.
Hang the strips over a bowl of water. The water should touch the very end of the paper towel, but not the ink. Tape the paper towels in place and wait to see what happens. The water should creep up the paper towel strips and separate each ink mark into a cool dye pattern. This is called chromatography.
What do you do with fountain pen ink?
What Is Fountain Pen Ink Chromatography? Fountain pen ink chromatography is when you use liquid and paper to separate out the components of another liquid, which in this case is fountain pen ink.
