Lesson Plan: Chromatography Chemistry

This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe and troubleshoot chromatography methods and explain their use in the analysis and separation of solutes.

Objectives

Students will be able to

describe the key steps in performing paper or thin-layer chromatography (TLC),
describe and identify the mobile and stationary phase in a chromatography experiment,
explain, in qualitative terms, why compounds can be separated by TLC,
explain the features of a TLC experiment,
calculate values from chromatograms and compare them to reference data to determine the substance,
use values to calculate the distance traveled by spots,
identify hazards and problems encountered during TLC.