Science Projects Index

Chromatography At Home

Cut two strip of blotting paper and hang them from a pencil. Put a drop of blue ink on one and red ink on the other strip. Place the pencil on a glass vessel in such a manner that the lower ends of the papers dir into the water. You will see the two colours dissolving as water gets absorbed in the paper. The colours will be seen to spread in the paper at different rates. Again, cut a strip from a round piece of blotting paper and put a drop of ink, which is a mixture of different coloured inks, in the centre. Let the strip be placed with the cut strip touching the water. Now you will see the water being absorbed and different colours separating and spreading in the round strip at different rates and at different distances.

Photo Chemistry

Cut a number of geometrical shapes from a white cardboard. Take a coloured paper and on this you stick the cardboard from which the shapes have been cut out using staples. Keep these papers in the sun for some days with the side of the cardboard facing the sun. After some days, remove the staples and take the cardboard away. When you look at the paper, you will see the designs marked on it. This is because, the portions of the paper, where it was exposed to the sun through the cut out portions of the cardboard, has faded. This fading is due to some chemical reactions that have taken place. The energy of the sun caused this reaction.