Answer 1:
As you may know, paper chromatography is a
method that can be used to separate the individual
components of a mixture. Basically, you can
think of the whole setup as a medium (the paper),
a solvent (whatever you dipped the paper into),
and the initial mixture to be separated. When the
paper strip is dipped into the solvent, the
solvent will start moving through the paper. As
it passes through the mixture, it will dissolve
the mixture and continue through the paper.
Now, when the components of the original
mixture are dissolved into the solvent, we need to
consider if the components are more attracted
to the solvent or to the paper. If the
component is more attracted to the solvent, then
it will move with the solvent along the paper
relatively fast. On the other hand, if the
component is more attracted to the paper, it will
move relatively slow. Relating this to your
question, this means that the component that
was blue had the strongest attraction to the paper
compared to the other components of different
colors. On a side note, it is important to
understand that there is nothing special about
blue, and blue would not necessarily always
separate last. It just means that in your
experiment, the component that was blue had the
strongest attraction to the paper (or, the
lowest Retention Factor). Click Here to return to the search form.
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