Click a thumbnail picture below to view a larger version.

View Movie

Narrative
A silica gel thin layer chromatography plate is spotted with the dyes Sudan B, Erythrosin, Rhodamine B, and a mixture of all three. The plate is placed in a tank containing acetone and developed to separate the components.

Discussion

The solvent front is marked and a ruler is held next to the plate to allow calculation of Rf values.

The plate is examined first under short wave ...

... then long wave ultraviolet light.