Kinsley McCollum Mrs. Helling 7th grade

Do different red flowers have the same pigments?

Hypothesis : My hypothesis is that all three red flowers I have collected will have the same pigments.

In this experiment I am going to use chromatography paper to help determine if a red rose, tulip, and carnation all have the same pigments.

Materials: Chromatography paper Scissors Ruler Pencil (2) Flower petals from 3 different red flowers Isopropyl alcohol Distilled water 2-cup liquid measuring cup Spoon Large-mouth glass jar coin

Variables: Independent: the 3 different types of flowers. Dependent: the pigments of the flowers. Controlled: the amount of solvent and the same strips of chromatography paper.

Step-by-Step Procedures 1. Cut chromatography paper strips about 5 inches long (they should all be the same size). 2. Use a ruler and pencil to draw a line across each paper strip, horizontally, 2 cm from the bottom. This is the origin line, where the sample is spotted. 3. Using a pencil, number each strip at the top so that you can identify it later. 4. To transfer the pigments onto the chromatography paper, you will crush a petal from each flower with a coin. Lay the flower petal on the chromatography strip, over the origin line. Roll the coin, like a wheel, over the petal, pushing down so that a strip of the pigment is transferred to the strip.

Step-by-Step Precedures 5. Make your solvent out of 50% isopropyl alcohol and water by mixing 1 cup of water with 1 cup of isopropyl alcohol. 6.Pour a small amount of the solvent into your glass jar, about 1 inch deep and lay pencil across the jar. 7. Tape a strip of the chromatography paper that has been imprinted with a flower's pigment to the pencil and hang it into the jar of solvent so that the bottom edge is just immersed in the solvent. 8. Allow the chromatography paper to remain in the solvent for 1 hour, or until the solvent front approaches the top of the strip, then take the strips out of the jar.

Step-by-Step Precedures 9. Use a pencil to mark the solvent front. 10. Measure the distance from the origin to the solvent front and from the origin to the top of the pigment band that should now be visible. Record the data in your lab notebook. Repeat Spotting the Sample onto the Paper, step 2, and Placing the Strip in the Chromatography Chamber, steps 1-8, with the other red-colored flowers. 11. Now use the equation “distance to top of pigment band (cm) over distance to solvent front (cm)” to calculate the value for each pigment. 12. Now see if the pigments are the same or different.

DATA: By using the equation “distance to top of pigment band (cm) over distance to solvent front (cm)” I got the following answers. Tulip (#1) : 7.62/2.54 or 3 Rose (#2) : 7.62/2.54 or 3 Carnation (#3) : 7/1.27 or 5.511811

The Pigments of Flowers

Results: In this experiment, I discovered that by using the given equation I was able to find that the tulip’s pigmentation=3, the rose’s pigmentation =3, and the carnations pigmentation= 5.511811.

Conclusion: My conclusion is that the tulip and rose have the same pigmentation, but the carnation has different pigmentation.

Citations : www.sciencebuddies.com

The End!