Question

What is chromatography?

Answer 1

Chromatography


Chromatography is a versatile method of separating many different kinds of chemical mixtures. In this lesson, learn the different types and uses of the technique.

A Mixture of Colors

In the early 1900s, a Russian botanist named Mikhail Tswett became interested in the individual chemical compounds in plants. He noted that mixing ground-up plant material extracts with different solvents produced different colored solutions. One of his experiments involved pouring a plant extract through a glass tube packed with powdered calcium carbonate. As the liquid passed through the solid powder, bands of color appeared; these were the individual compounds, separated from each other by the interaction of the solid (which remained fixed in the tube) and the liquid extract (which flowed through the tube and out the other end). Tswett had invented chromatography, a word he derived from the Greek words for color (chroma) and writing (graphe).


 

Answer 2

Chromatography is one of the most popular laboratory separation techniques. The name originated from the Greek words “chroma” (color) and “graphein” (to write). Chromatography was first used as a scientific method in 1903 by Mikhail , a Russian scientist who applied it to separating colorful plant pigments. Chromatography is also one of the first chemical analysis techniques kids learn in school, as it can be demonstrated in a simplest format using paper and ink.