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Leaf Chromatography for Kids! Explore chemistry and biology with a single activity.

Leaf ChromatographyHave you been talking about plants, nutrition, visible light, or anything else where pigment or colors take center stage? This is a great extension activity.  This post contains affiliate links, you can read my full disclosure here.

Chromatography is one of those things that either is very successful or it isn’t.  The idea of paper chromatography is that we can separate the pigments in things based on their size and movement across the paper (with the help of a solvent).

 

The typical solvent we use to help pigments move across the paper is alcohol. Cold alcohol is best.

Leaf chromatography is a combination of the chemistry of chromatography and the biology of pigments in living cells.

Using chromatography paper or coffee filter (I do prefer the special paper) you create strips.  Leave about 1/2 of an inch at the bottom.  Draw a line across at that point with a pencil.  This will be where you load the sample.

 

You can use markers or a plant leaf to do this experiment.

 

Leaf Chromatography Set Up

If you use plants, you may want to do some prep.  There are a few options.
  • Place the plant leaves into a container with alcohol and lightly crush.
    • Then cover with plastic wrap and place in a hot water bath for about 30 minutes.
    • Dot a sample of the solution on the line.
    • This requires multiple dots to have enough sample.
  • Mash the leaves into a paste. Then add a sample of the paste to the loading line.
  • Lay the leaf over the loading line and use an eraser or pipette to crush the leaf on the paper.
I find the crushed leaf directly onto the paper works best, but you can do either one.

 

Add enough liquid to cover the bottom of a container to no more than 1/2 inch.  The liquid solvent will move up the paper by capillary action and take the pigments with it.

 

To keep the chromatography paper from slipping you can wrap one end around a pencil like so…

lea

 

Allow it to go until you see some separation.  The pigments will depend on what you use.

 

Here is an example:

You may find that the leaf doesn’t give you as much separation as you would like.  In that case, I highly suggest markers.  It starts working almost immediately.
Ink Chromatography

Looking for supplies:

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4 Comments

  1. I won't worry too much about young children "not getting it". Sometimes concepts take a while to sink in, especially science concepts. I understood very little of science until much later, and I'm still learning new things to this day. 🙂

  2. Hi, I just found your blog, looks full of inspiration for this first-me mother..

    I think with the younger kids, it's the process they enjoy. He will have got something out of it for sure, just maybe not what you planned for him to get. if you know what I mean.

  3. Great reminder that not everything will work all the time – and it's best to observe your child's reaction and move on! And I always find it fascinating that something that doesn't work at one point will often work very well later on. Thanks so much for sharing at Montessori Monday! Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow.com

  4. Thanks guys! I have decided to start a continent and animal study over the next few months. My kids are especially interested in the Arctic circle, I think this might be a better fit for now.

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