This video shows a clear plastic tube, about 10 cm in diameter. The inside is lined with pieces of velcro hook tape. A mixture of balls is then tipped into the tube. The fuzzy wool felt balls stick to the velcro. The smooth plastic balls fall straight through the tube. This illustrates the concept of chromatography. Chromatography is used by chemists to separate mixtures of molecules. It works as some molecules stick to surfaces better than others. If you pass a solution with different molecules through a chromatography column, some molecules stick to the inside of the column. We call the inside of the column the stationary phase. The other molecules stay with the solution and come out the end of the column.
