1) A pencil line is drawn about 2 cm from the end of the paper (baseline/ pencil line).

2) A tiny spot of black ink is placed on the pencil line using a capillary tube. The spot is allowed to dry, and the black ink is dripped for 3 times on the same spot so that it becomes concentrated.

3) The chromatography paper is suspended into a glass tank containing the solvent ethanol. The level of the solvent should be about 1 cm below the baseline. Other spots of suspected dyes are also placed on the pencil line.

4) The solvent travels up the chromatography paper and when it reaches nearly to the top of the paper, the chromatography paper is removed and allowed to dry. The result obtained is called a Chromatogram.

Review: Paper chromatography