Thin-layer Chromatography

An interactive animation of thin-layer (and paper) chromatography is displayed below. Chem21Labs animations provide a safe environment for learning . . . . students receive "full credit" when they complete the animation correctly - it does not matter how many times they miss part of it and have to start over. This animation can be assigned as a pre-lab activity to prepare students for the lab and again as a post-lab activity to reinforce the lab learning objectives.

• Click the pencil icon to start the animation.
• Continue clicking the pencil icon to proceed through the animation.
• At the end of the animation is the "interactive" part where students must calculate the R_f of the known compounds.
• Then, students must identify the compounds present in their "virtual unknown."
• Each student has randomly assigned R_f values and a randomly-selected set of compounds in their "virtual unknown."
• If the student miscalculates a R_f value or misses one of their "virtual unknowns," they must restart the animation.
• Students receive "full credit" when they complete the animation correctly - it does not matter how many times they must restart it.
• The HTML5 version of this interactive animation is shown below.