Chromatography A black marker is useful for many things. Drawing, writing bold words, and labeling moving boxes are just a few. However, talk to a scientist and you may find out that the black ink in it really isn't black ink at all but rather a soup of different colors mixed together. In fact, you can find out for yourself through an easy experiment using chromatography. Simply get a coffee filter or a paper towel and draw a two-inch line in the middle with a black marker. Then, dip one end of the paper into a shallow cup of water, and watch what happens. When the water climbs up the paper and reaches the line, it separates the "black" ink into different colors. The water then carries each color to a different level depending on the weight and size of the molecules in each dye. Chromatography is like a cluster of toy boats each floating to a different location in a pool. If you try the experiment with several different types of markers, it's likely you'll find that each one has its own pattern. That's because not all companies make black ink with the same components, or mixture of different colored ink. Italian-Russian botanist Mikhail Tsvet invented chromatography in 1906 while he was researching plant pigments. Chromatography is a way to separate the different parts of mixtures so they can be studied individually. For example, scientists use the process to analyze the pollutants found in water. Chromatography is used in many fields. Police even use it to help solve crimes such as bank robberies. Banks sometimes insert small red dye packs into bags of money that are handed to criminals during a robbery. When the criminals escape, the packs explode through the use of a timer and spill red ink on the hands of the criminals. If a suspect is caught "red handed," the police can use chromatography to see if the ink on the suspect matches the ink used by the bank. 3 Read the sentence from the third paragraph. The water then carries each color to a different level depending on the weight and size
