1. It is important that you use a wick to transport water instead of direct contact with the filter paper as it is essential that the water spreads evenly and from the same point(i.e. the center). If the filter paper was in direct contact with the water in the cup you wouldn't be able to see the pigment bands as the water wouldn't be spreading from the same point so the bands would not be visible as the water would be dispersing in different directions.
2. Some variables that affect the pattern of the colors produced on the filter paper include marker type, brand, design drawn on filter paper, and concentration of ink.
3. Ink separates into different pigment bands because when the black ink comes into contact with water, the ink starts to spread. Some pigments travel further than others, creating the bands.
4. When I walked around looking at other students colored filter papers, I noticed a lot of blue pigment bands. The type of blue I saw in all the filter papers was a light blue that looked very similar in every paper, so it was probably made from the same pigment/compound. There are common pigments in different pens because the same company creates a lot of the pens or markers and probably reuses pigments.
5. If the markers weren't water-soluble, the pigments would not separate with the water. Water-soluble markers are meant to break down with water, which explains why the ink broke down on the filter paper with the water. If the experiment was modified to be conducted with permanent markers you would need to have a different solute with added chemicals that is able to break down the permanent ink.
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