Libby High School Chem lab blog

Title: Chromatography lab

Statement of the Problem:

* We are trying to answer or see what happens when solvents (such as water methanol isopropyl and hexon) separate black pigment and to figure out which solvent was more effective and what colors made up the black pigment.

* We found out that some were more polar others and there was one non-polar solvent.

Hypothesis:

* I hypothesis that hexone because will work well because its non polar and is a complex molecule.

Materials:

*Filter paper, Water, Hexon, isopropyl, methanol

*Black, red, green, yellow and blue markers

* Always wear goggles, do not inhale fumes, wear aprons wash hands after touching solvents.

Procedure:

* We first began with cutting 1cm *8cm strips of filter paper. Fold 1.5 cm from one end then. Then added 3 dots maximum of black marker on filter paper of creased line. Fill 4 holes of well plate with solvents such as water, hexon, isopropyl, and methanol and dipped the folded one of each filter paper end in each hole which contained the solvents then watch what happens for 30 minutes. Part step you repeat the process but instead with different colored markers and the only solvent is water.

Results (Data):

We found out that hypothesis wasn’t correct water was the best and fastest solvent because it’s a polar molecule and is the smallest of the solvent.

Conclusions:

* Our hypothesis is rejected because although hexon is a complex molecule it is non polar which did not allow the pigment to separate it.

We conclude that in order from best to worst: Water, methanol, isopropyl, hexon.

We learned about chromatography paper and how it can separate pigments.

A problem that could have occurred in this lab is that if the amount of solvent could change the rate of separation (of pigment)

Other problems that could have arose are things such as the filter paper was not working properly or maybe the solvents were not working to its full potential.

By: James, Marco, Justin