INTRODUCTIONSuppose that you have a solution containing two or more different types of molecules, and you need to separate these components from one another. How would you go about this task? Chemists face this problem often--if not daily. One possible separation technique is known as chromatography. In this experiment you will use one form of chromatography called paper chromatography. Mixtures can be separated because individual compounds (or components) are carried along the surface of paper at different rates by a solvent. This difference in mobility is due to the existence of two phases, stationary and mobile. Water absorbed on the paper fibers is the stationary phase, and the free solvent is the mobile phase. The components which are the most water soluble are attracted to the stationary water phase and, therefore, will move along the paper surface more slowly, thus effecting a separation of the components in the mixture. The ratio of the distance traveled by the component to that traveled by the solvent isthe Rfvalue.