Do you know what happens when you spill water on ink?  

Do you fancy yourself as a budding scientist? Well then, you have got to keep fuelling your curious mind. Today, we are here to help you do just that. Have you ever spilled water on a piece of paper after writing with ink on it and observed what happens next? Well, the water gets soaked, leaving behind the ink to smudge. You must have wondered why this happens. Actually, a process called chromatography is responsible for this. Today, let us understand what exactly happens in this process. 

Chromatography: What does it mean? 
Chromatography is a chemical process that helps in both qualitative and quantitative separation of a mixture into its separate components. Okay, so what does this mean?  

It means that a mixture has more than one component, that are divided into two phases: Mobile phase (gas or liquid) and the stationary phase (solid or liquid). Now, in case of chromatography, what happens is, these two phases move simultaneously. However, there always remains a difference in the rate of migration. Interestingly, this, in turn affects the separation of the components. Interestingly, the term chromatography is derived from two Greek words, ‘chroma’ and ‘graphe’ which together mean ‘colour writing.’ Isn’t that fascinating? 

Spilling water on ink: What exactly happens 
We have all, at some point or the other seen chromatography live. It happens when we accidentally spill water on paper, after immediately writing on it with ink. The result, as we already mentioned, is the water being soaked through the paper, with the ink getting smudged. In fact, after the paper dries up, we observe that in place of single-coloured ink, there are now multiple blots.  

Here comes the most important question, what happened to the ink? Well, of course some of it got dissolved into water, as you may have always guessed. Here, the water is the mobile phase, implying that it made the ink move across the paper, while also moving on its own. And the paper here is the stationary phase, meaning it remained still, unlike the water.  

Wait, we aren’t done yet. So, when the ink starts spreading, all thanks to the push by water, its components (chemicals) get separated. These in turn are caught by the paper. While some are caught instantly, others take more time. This is why, a part of the ink is found farther across the page, creating the blots. And there you have it, chromatography in action! 

Let’s simplify it for you: The components in the ink get divided as they react differently to either water or the paper.