DISCOVERING HIDDEN COLORS
By: Kayla Whitt

Materials Needed: Strips of a paper towel, chalk, or coffee filter, ink/food coloring, jars, a rod, dropper, and some clips.

In separate containers, (I used the lids of the jars) mix some of the inks/food coloring together. Your mixture will turn to a dark color as you mix them. I mixed two colors in two lids and my colors were dark brown and black.

Using the clips, attach the paper towel to the rod, or if you are using chalk, just hold the end of it. I just use a ruler to clip on the paper towels. And in each empty jar, fill it with a little water so that when you lower to paper into the jar, the water can be absorbed by the paper.

On each end of the paper, chalk, or filter, place a drop of your ink mixture and lower the materials down into the jars of water so that it barely touches the ends of the paper, chalk, or filter.

As you pull the strips of paper out of the water, you can watch as the water, along with the ink, absorbs and spreads up the strip of paper.

I tried the same experiment to a piece of chalk and it also did the same thing.

This is after the ink on the paper and the chalk has spread and dried.

Now why does this happen?........

You may ask...

*Why does mixing a lot of colors make black?

*How does black magic work?

*What is chromatography?

*Why does ink spread in water?

All of these questions have answers containing information that takes place in this experiment. There is a new word to learn called "Chromatography". Ink is made of colored pigments and water. When the ink dries, the colored pigment remains on the paper/ chalk. When you dip it into water, the pigments are carried up the paper along with the water and spreads. Different colors carry and travel at different rates. It all depends on the size of the pigment and how strongly it attracts to the paper. When the black touches the water, all the colors that were used to make the black color separates.

Check out my classmates blog for some more pictures and discussion!

Sarah Young

Tonya Estep

Information gathered from:

http://www.science4mykid.com/project_detail.asp?pid=44&offset

http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/black_magic.html

(try this experiment....it is basically the same, but neat)

This experiment would be great for many age levels, but the science standards I found are for fourth grade.

GLE 0407.Inq.2 Select and use appropriate tools and simple equipment to conduct an
investigation.

0407.10.2 Design an experiment to investigate how different surfaces determine if light is reflected, refracted, or absorbed