Your black pen is hiding a spectrum of different colours inside its ink
In short: Dr. Nicholas Turner demonstrates a simple chromatography experiment that reveals the hidden pigments composing common writing inks. This investigation challenges the assumption that ink colours are uniform, showing how basic chemistry can pull apart the components of a black biro or a green felt tip pen.
Chromatography is a technique used to separate mixtures into their individual components. By applying this method to everyday writing instruments, one can observe that what appears to be a single colour is often a blend of several distinct dyes.
The experiment serves as a practical introduction to chemical separation processes. It highlights how substances with different properties, such as solubility, interact with a medium to reveal their true composition, proving that common office supplies are more complex than they appear to the naked eye.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: How do you separate the colours in ink?
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