Chadwick called for six glasses of water to be placed on the dining room table. He then began to tear pieces of paper from his notebook, one each from the deposition of the suspects. He also tore a piece from the murder clue. Chadwick placed each paper into the separate glasses and waited. Introduction Back to top .
Paper chromatography is a method of separating mixtures by using a piece of absorbent paper.
In this process, the solution to be separated is placed on a piece of dry filter paper. This is the stationery phase. A solvent, the moving phase, is allowed to travel across the paper by capillary action. As the solvent front moves, the components of the mixture separate. The components of the mixture that are most soluble in the solvent and least attracted to the paper travel the farthest.