Column Chromatography Lab

In paper chromatography, some compounds in a mixture travel almost as far as the solvent does; some stay much closer to the base line. The distance travelled relative to the solvent is a constant for a particular compound as long as you keep everything else constant. Some compounds may travel farther than others because they may be composed of more components, thus traveling farther. For example, black is composed of every color of the rainbow, while yellow is composed of less colors. As a result, black will travel farther, which helped us come up with the hypothesis that darker colors will travel farther than lighter colors. In the experiment, we used Rf-values, which shows the relationship of the distance moved by a pigment to the distance moved by
With water and alcohol, we studied how the column chromatography would change, which happens to be how long it takes the compound takes to separate. We decided that alcohol would separate the compound faster than water because water is a little bit denser than alcohol. This fact can be validated by putting equal volume of water and alcohol (ethanol in this case) on a balance, the water will be heavier than the ethanol. At room temperature and standard pressure, the family of alcohol (methanol and ethanol) have densities of about 0.79g/cc compare to water at the same conditions with a density of 1.0g/cc. This is because of the arrangement of its molecules. The molecules of water are closely packed than that of alcohol, which affects its weight. With this information, it is easy to conclude that alcohol will pass through the sand easier and faster. The sand will be purified, thus making it easier for the compound to flow easily. As shown in the results, the grape soda separated into its components faster in alcohol than in water in column