One of our centers was a less hands on, more observational, exploration of chromatography...the separation of colors. We used coffee filters cut into strips, and markers. As you can see in the picture, we made big dots at the narrow end of the strip, then we draped it over the edge of a dish of water so the very end was touching the water. The filter paper absorbed the water and wicked it through the marker spot. Depending on the kind of marker, we had colorful results.
The Sharpies, being permanent, really didn't wick. But the other markers, a variety of brands of watercolor markers, had different results. We actually had two browns of different brands, and they showed to be made of slightly different colors...like blue! And the pink had purple in it! And the black also had blue!
Now we just need enough sun here in NW Washington to do a similar experiment with a prism and light refraction. Maybe later this spring...
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