Candy Electrophoresis Lab

    The blue and brown dyes that were longer than the four reference dyes. Some of the dyes were had slightly different colors than the reference dyes. The brown dye separated into two different dyes. None of the dyes were going in the wrong direction. This might happen if the dyes were not exactly the same as the reference dyes, or were made up of more than one dye. It also may have happened because of the difference in the charges of the dye.

    The "Fast green FCF" would migrate similarly to the "Blue 1," and the "Citrus red 2" would migrate similarly to the "Red 40," since the two pairs are similar to each other in structure.

    Dog food manufacturers would put artificial food colors in the food because the dog or the owner would probably gravitate towards getting brightly colored stuff.

    The size of the molecules and the electrical charge of the molecules controls the distance the colored dye solutions migrate. The small molecules move faster than the big ones, and the charge of the dye determines the direction in which the dye moves.

    Electricity helps the dyes move through the gel. The negatively charged molecules will move toward the positive electrode and the positively charged molecules will move toward the negative electrode.

    The gel has many tiny pores, so it acts like a strainer. This allows the electrophoresis system to cause the molecules to separate by size.

    I would imagine that the lighter molecules would move faster through the gel while the heavier ones go slower. This is because the heavier molecules would probably be bigger than the lighter ones.