Hannah+Heinz+and+Kelly+Glick


 * "Black" Ink VS. The Real Black Ink**

__**Background:**__ Is black ink really black? It seems like an obvious question of course black ink is black! But is it really or could it be made up of more than one color component? And one way that we can test this is with a technique know as chromatography. Chromatography is used to separtate different components in complex mixtures and solutions. Thers are 2 different parts of chromatography; the first part is called a stationary phase which does not move it is the platform that you put the mixture that you want to analyze. The second part is called the mobile phase and it does the opposite, it moves. It sweeps the components of the mixture along the stationary phase separating them by how much they "stick" to each other. This can also be referred to as a solvent. So what we will do in this experiment is try and see if black ink will separate into different components. The black ink from different pens and markers will be spotted onto strips of filter paper and then put into a beaker containing a solution of alcohol and water. The paper will be the stationary phase and the alcohol and water mixture is the mobile phase. The attraction of the solvent or moblie phase will be larger than the attraction of the solvent to itself, so the solvent will move up the paper. Also the ink will be attracted to the paper, to the solvent differently, and to itself, and because of this a different component will move at different distances depending on the strength of the attraction to each of these objects.

__**Problem:**__ The components of "black" ink, are they all really black?

__**Hypothesis:**__ If you but a piece of chromatography paper in a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution with a black ink dot on it, then the ink will run and you will see multiple colors. Such as green, blue, orange, yellow, red or purple.

__**IV:**__ Type of ink (marker, pen, etc.) __**DV:**__ Colors that make up the ink

__**Procedure:**__
 * 1) Cut filter paper into 15 2x7 cm strips.
 * 2) Take on of the strips and with a ruler draw a line across it 1 cm from the bottom.
 * 3) Using one of the pens or markers place a small dot of ink in the center of the line. (This will be our sample paper.)
 * 4) Repeat steps 2 & 3 to make 5 chromatography strips for each pen/ marker.
 * 5) Make a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution to dip the papers in
 * 6) Pour a small amount of the solution (just so it touches the bottom of the paper) into a 150 mL beaker
 * 7) Use pencil and mini binder clips to hold the papers in the solution
 * 8) Put paper into the solution and let it rise up the paper until it is 0.5 cm from the top
 * 9) Mark how far the solution rose
 * 10) Let the paper dry and then measure and calculate the Rf value for each pen/marker dye
 * 11) Repeat steps 6-10 until all the strips of paper and different kinds of pens/markers have been tested.

__**Materials:**__
 * Filter Paper cut into 2x7 cm strips (15)- $10
 * Scissors- $2
 * Pencil- $1
 * Ruler- $1
 * Wooden coffee stirrer- $1
 * 150 mL beaker- $50
 * Isopropyl alcohol- $2
 * Water- free
 * 400 mL beaker- $50
 * Plastic wrap- $2
 * Mini binder clips (2)- $1
 * Black pens or markers (3)- $5
 * Lab notebook- $10
 * Total Cost: $135

__**Data**__:
 * || Marker || Pen || Sharpie ||
 * Blue || x || x || x ||
 * Purple ||  || x || x ||
 * Yellow ||  || x || x ||
 * Green || x ||  || x ||

__**Analysis:**__ To test and see if our hypothesis was right or not we started by setting up our experiment. We prepared all of the test strips with the correct type of ink dot on each paper. Then we made the isopropyl alcohol solution that the test papers where then dipped in. Then we sat and observed as the solution ran up the paper causing the ink to reveal its true colors. At first right when the paper hit the solution it ran up the paper very quickly but then as it was about half way up the paper it started to slow down more, so we waited and watched to see what the different colors would be. The colors that we where testing for where green, blue, orange, yellow, red, and purple. We thought that these are the main colors that can be used to create other more complex colors such as black or brown. So as we watched the solution rise up the paper this is what we observed; we first observed the marker, this one took a while for the colors to come out because they where very faint and not easily seen. The colors also spread across the whole paper, and it was a mixture of green and blue that made up the marker. We then observed the pen, now the pen sort of did the opposite of the marker, the ink of the pen stayed in a condensed area of the paper and the colors where dark and easy to distinguish. The colors that made up the pen where blue, purple, and yellow. Finally we observed the sharpie, and the sharpie was the one where the solution ran up the paper the fastest, after the paper dried it look like one big streak of ink that went right down the middle. The colors that made up the sharpie where blue, purple, yellow, and green.

__**Conclusion:**__ At the end of the experiment, our hypothesis was supported. If you but a piece of chromatography paper in a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution with a black ink dot on it, then the ink will run and you will see multiple colors. Such as green, blue, yellow, or purple. This happened with all the black ink that we used. In a marker, pen, and sharpie at least 2 different colors ran on the paper when the paper was dipped in the solution. But part of our hypothesis was also incorrect. Some of the colors that we predicted that would be apart of the black ink that did not appear on the paper such as orange and red. We think that the reason that they don't use these colors when making black ink is because these are very bold and vibrant colors and the colors in the ink where more earthy colors that could blend well together better to create black.


 * __Limitations:__** If we were to do this experiment again, we would need to label the beakers that we use so that there would be no confusion. To expand our results we could try to use different pen and marker brands. That would give us more data and ink compare. Another area that we could improve upon was timing how long the paper sat in the solution, because some we had to leave in longer than others so that may have had an effect on the results. Overall, there are many factors we could improve.

__**Bibliography:**__
 * Andrew Rader Studios. (2012). //Chem4Kids//. Retrieved November 29, 2012 from []
 * Clark, Jim. (2007). //Paper Chromatography.// Retrieved August 20, 2013, from []
 * United States Geological Survey Staff. (2012, October 31). //Capillary Action//. Retrieved November 29, 2012 from []
 * Waters Corporation Staff. (2012). //High Performance Liquid Chromatography//. Retrieved November 29, 2012 from []