How does Chromatography works in Owls?
The solvent rises up the chromatography paper (blotting paper) by capillarity. When the solvent reaches the “spot” it dissolves the mixture of coloured chemicals. There is now a solution; this is a mixture of solutes dissolved in the solvent. The molecules of these different chemicals are all different sizes. The simple explanation is that the smallest solute molecules travel almost as quickly as the solvent molecules and so get carried to the top of the chromatogram. The largest solute molecules travel very slowly and stay near the bottom. So some of the coloured chemical travel further than others. If you are doing this with amino-acids you will not see anything happen until the end of the experiment when you stain it with ninhydrin.
