Distillation and Chromatography

Lab Brief #4

🎯 Your mission

Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.

⚡ The twist

Color changes mean atoms are rearranging — even if you can't see them.

What you'll learn

Simple distillation separates a solvent from a dissolved solid by boiling and condensing. Fractional distillation separates liquids with different boiling points. Chromatography separates dissolved substances by how strongly each is attracted to the paper versus the solvent.

Key words

distillation
Separation by boiling and condensing, exploiting differences in boiling point.
chromatography
Separation of dissolved substances by their differing movement through a stationary phase.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you mix: what color do you think it'll turn?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

chromatography paper
beaker
felt-tip pens
water
ruler
pencil

Get ready

⚠️ Safety first

Draw the start line in pencil, not ink, and keep the solvent level below it.
Work on a protected surface — inks stain.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "distillation" and "chromatography" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Run paper chromatography on four felt-tip inks and a black pen, using water as the solvent. Measure each spot's distance and calculate Rf values, then identify which single inks make up the black.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Chromatography separates substances by differences in their:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Fractional distillation separates liquids using differences in:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌈 Every color you see is your brain inventing a translation of light frequencies.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Water Treatment and Purity All lessons

🎯

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This is happening in your kitchen right now — every time food cooks.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find one ingredient in a snack and look up what it does.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's something we cook that mixes things together this way?”

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