To investigate the chemical components in ink using chromatography.

others.The original site of the spots is marked with a pencil and not a pen because the ink in the pen is also made of different components and would have run down the paper like the other spots. However since pencils are made of graphite, they remain stationary on the filter paper.  The spots must be above the level of the solvent at the beginning of the experiment because the solvent must be absorbed into the filter paper so the components can separate and be displayed in a line vertically on the filter paper. If the spots were placed in the solvent, then the solvent would have got in-between the ink particles making it bigger and it would have looked like a blob and not like the chromatogram in the results.Different solvents give different chromatographs because some solvents are more polar than others. For example if the polarity in one solvent was stronger than another you could use a longer piece of filter paper or stationary phase which would give u better results and a different chromatograph against a weaker solvent which would give a lower quality of results.Below is the table of Rf values. The Rf values may not be accurate because the spots of ink are not the same size. In other words if the spots are not the same size then it’s hard to tell where to take the measurements from.  Ink:Components:Color:Distance (cms):Rf:A1Blue7.07.0   = 0.977.2B1Yellow4.54.5   = 0.6257.2C2PurplePink3.01.53.0   = 0.42 (purple)7.21.5   = 0.21 (pink)7.2D3BluePurplePink7.05.51.57.0   = 0.97 (blue)7.25.5   = 0.76 (purple)7.21.5   = 0.21 (pink)7.2E2BlueYellow7.04.57.0   = 0.97 (blue)7.24.5   = 0.625 (yellow)7.2 Some of the inks did contain the same color components. These colors include blue, pink, yellow and purple. The blue and yellow are pure inks because they only contain their own color components. However the pink and purple contain different components as well as their own component.Possible uses for chromatography in industry include: looking for drugs present in blood, sugars in fruit juice, hydrocarbons in oil, pesticides in water and soil etc. (reference: Chemistry Two 3rd Edition) Conclusion: In conclusion it is evident that with chromatography we can break down inks chemically and identify which components make which pigments. Paper chromatography is the most basic form of chromatography and not necessarily the best type.