Unknown Mixtures Lab Report

Purpose: Unknown mixtures will be separated by means of chromatography in which the mixture will be passed in a solution through a medium leaving behind components of the mixture at different rates, therefore, different spots on the absorbing substance. This will help determine the identity of unknown mixtures. The spot colors on the strip of filter paper and the Rf values of the unknown samples will be compared to those of known samples. To find the position of the spots on the strip of paper, we will use the Retention factor equation:
Rf = D/L= (distance component moves)/(distance solvent moves)
Procedure: From the laboratory textbook Chemical Principles by Slowinski, Wolsey, and Rossi (p. 7-10, chapter 2), our experiment began. First,