1. ARE FOOD COLORS FROM DIFFERENT BRANDS MADE FROM THE SAME DYES ?

2. HYPOTHESIS Yellow BlueGreenRed Food colors (Yellow, Blue, Green and Red) from different brands are made of the same dyes.

3. METHOD USED TO TEST HYPOTHESIS: AGAROSE GEL ELECTROPHORES IS

4. TERMS AND CONCEPTS ELECTROPHORESIS: Electricity (electro) + to carry across (phoresis) Movement of materials through a gel AGAROSE -- Agarose is a natural colloid extracted from sea weed. It is very fragile and easily destroyed by handling. Agarose gels have very large "pore" sizes and are used primarily to separate very large molecules. GEL -- A suspension of tiny particles in some medium, like a buffer, is called a colloidal dispersion or a colloid.

5. BUFFER -- maintains pH (measurement of acidity), electric charge ( + or -) on dyes; conducts electricity (pure water will not conduct electricity very well), also disperses heat generated during electrophoresis. DC power (direct, non alternating current) – moves charged dyes (usually negative) from anode (-) to cathode (+). Migration rates and direction are due to size of dye, charge on dye, and the pore size of the agarose gel.

6. Materials used in experiments

7. Heating up agarose mixture in microwave

8. Agarose gel being poured into mold

9. Comb in agarose

10. Loading pipette tip to load dye into the wells

11. Loading dyes into the wells (3.5 uL)

12. Gels running at 100 volts D.C. for 35 minutes

14. 3.1 cm DPKMD KPM B B BLUE DYES (35 MINS @ 100 V) 1% Agarose Gel; Dye Load = 3.5 ul; 100 V for 35 Minutes B = Blank; D = Dudley; P = Paas; K = Kroger; M = McCormick Origin _ + 2.0 cm

15. Electrophoresis of Kroger Food Dyes Before (A) and After (B) 35 Minutes at 100 V A B