As part of our third Teacher Lab day at the Fred Hutch Science Education Partnership (SEP) Bootcamp, we had to create our own experiment. I wanted to find an experiment that artists would be interested in...that might give them an understanding of their materials on a more granular level. So, I partnered with Jennifer Smith, a seasoned science teacher and we created an experiment that tested the molecular movement of different pigments across a medium.
Research question: How will pigments in the Red/Magenta family (tonier ink, gouache, watercolor) separate under gel electrophoresis. Compared with provided pigments?
Prediction: Pigments will separate in the direction of their charge as given by their structure.
Artist pigments: artist watercolor and gouache, printer ink, dye (experiment results below)
Basic Procedure: Art/toner pigements: Pure Magenta Toner, Magenta Gouache, Bordeaux watercolor, Quinachridone Red. --- Dilute with water to thin, Add glycerol to make sure it will sink into well, Adjust by mixing with a toothpick to approx. consistency. --- Select 3 kit pigments in red magenta family (Cresol Red, Phenol Red, Safranin). --- Make 1% Agarose gel with 1X TAE buffer --- Load 15 microliters into lanes 1-7 of gel as follows: Lane one: Magenta toner, Lane 2: magenta gouache, Lane 3, Bordeaux watercolor, Lane 4: Quin Rose watercolor, Lane 5 Cresol, Lane 6 Phenol Red, Lane 7: Safranin. --- Run at 100 mv until 1 pigment is close to the edge. --- Make a blot and acetate trace of the gel.
Media Pigment Prediction Result
Magenta Toner Aanaline family Positive to neg 26mm+/32mm +
Magenta Gouache Aanaline family Positive to neg No move
Bordeaux Benzinidazolone No move No move
Quin Rose Quinacridone No move No move
Cresol Red Cresol Neg to pos 20mm +
Phenol Red Phenol Neg to pos 25mm +
Safrinin Safrinin Pos to neg 25 mm -