Plant Chromatography

The Artist is excited whenever she gets to conduct a science experiment. Yesterday was one of those days. She separated the pigments within some samples of plants from the yard. This experiment was very simple and it was fun. I think it would be interesting to try it again with some vegetables or tree leaves next summer.

First she crushed a yellow marigold blossom and leaves along with a white mum and its leafy stem. She pulverized with in a few teaspoons of acetone and poured the odd mixture into a beaker. We cut up a coffee filter and suspended it from the top, letting it trail into the mixture, then put it aside for an hour. In the picture you see two papers ready for the liquid because I was experimenting to see whether tissue paper would work. It did not.

After the hour we were treated to quite a sight! The various shades of yellow on the paper began so subtly and ended up so vivid. In between there was just a hint of green in a narrow band.

Time allowed one more sample yesterday. This time the Artist selected a cutting from a deep rust colored mum with some of its leaves. The colors it yielded are on the right in this picture. We expected more reds. But the little bit of rusty brown at the bottom and the blue at the top are interesting too.
After the papers were dry the time came to record the data and explain what she learned. Meanwhile, the Engineer is completing a geography lesson.