Procedure:
- Cut a 3 cm wide strip of coffee filter paper that is 14 cm long (2 cm longer than the height of the glass). Use the Paper-Mate fine point black marker to draw a line across one end of the coffee filter paper strip, 2 cm from the end.
- Fill the glass with 1 to 2 cm of distilled water.
- Wrap the top end of the coffee filter paper strip around a skewer and secure the paper with a paper clip.
- Hold the skewer next to the glass at the same height as the mouth of the glass. Adjust the strip of paper so that the height of the inked line is approximately 1 cm above the surface of the liquid in the glass.
- Lower the strip on the skewer into the glass and rest the skewer across the mouth so that the end of the paper is in the liquid but the line is above it.
- Allow the liquid to be absorbed into the coffee filter paper strip. The liquid will soak upward into the paper, rising through the inked line to discover how the solvent separates the pigments in the ink.
- Repeat steps 1 through 6 using white vinegar for trial #2.
- Repeat steps 1 through 6 using acetone for trial #3.