
The Fleet Science Center will open at 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 4.
Ever wonder how to see the different colors used to create black ink? In this activity, we will separate the colors used to make black ink using a piece of paper!
While we think of water as something essential for life; water does a fantastic job at dissolving things, like salt and sugar. Any liquid that can dissolve things is called a solvent, and water is considered the universal solvent.
Many black inks are a combination of different colored inks, but not all black inks are made the same way. While water can dissolve the black inks, we need paper to more clearly separate the different colored inks. While the water is travelling up the paper, the black ink will dissolve and separate to more of its constituent colors.
1. Try out different colored makers to see a rainbow of results.
2. Try out different papers, just be sure to ask permission.
3. Is blue (or any other color) just blue, or is it made up of different colors?
4. You may find that some colored makers won’t separate, no matter how long you live it in the water. Why do you think that is?
5. Have fun