Food Dye Synthesis Lab Report

The data we collected and the calculations we performed demonstrated that the color of a given food dye depended on which light was transmitted in the visible spectrum and which light was absorbed. A quantitative measurement of the absorbance spectrum of each food dye was obtained through spectrophotometry.1 Through this method, we determined that the wavelength of maximum absorbance of a given food dye was directly correlated to the color of that food dye. Further, darker food dyes absorbed more light than lighter food dyes (Table 1).
The relationship between the color of light absorbed and the color of light transmitted is demonstrated in Figure 1.2 When the wavelengths of a color on the color wheel is absorbed, the color directly across