Chromatography with Mystery Markers

If you’re kid is anything like mine, you have heard the question “why… or what…” at least twenty times a day. I may have some answers but at other times, I just have to respond…”that’s a good question, let’s look it up.”. While painting and talking about primary colors and mixing colors to make new colors, my son asked “What makes black?” And so our quest began…

Chromatography is the process of separating mixtures or in this instance dyes of markers. For this science experiment all you need is strips of paper towel, bowl of water, and non-permanent markers.

First with different colored markers, draw a line about 1 to 2 inches from the bottom of each paper towel strip. Dip each strip into the water so that the bottom of the paper towel is in the water but not the line that was drawn. Hold the paper towel strip still and you will see the water starting to creep up and spread the ink colors.