Easter Egg Chromatography

It was just a way to keep the eggs from rolling around the baking sheet, while containing the color. But, when I set my newly dyed green Easter Egg onto a paper towel, I accidentally started the process of chromatography.

For chromatography, you need two things:
1) fibers, such as in a paper towel or coffee filter, to transmit the liquid
2) moving liquid, such as water, which dissolves the dyes and carries them through the paper.
Apparently, the water running down off of the egg and soaking the paper towel was enough to push the dyes further away from the egg, and start the colors separating.

Notice the ring of beautiful blue around the green dye. There are also spots of yellow in the middle of the green, which at first I thought must have dripped from a yellow egg, but turn out to be the yellow dye remaining after the blue dye is separated out. (I repeated the experiment, keeping yellow eggs far away, just to make sure.)

I also noticed this effect with blue, which separated slightly so that one patch of blue was a little darker violet, but it didn't photograph well.

Chemistry of egg dyeing

As part of the USA Science and Engineering Festival, chemistry professor Diane Bunce is going to explain the chemistry behind egg dying. If you can't make it, read this article for a sneak peek, and learn why you need vinegar in egg dye.

Egg Decorating

Whenever we do major candy experiments, I end up with stained countertops. So, this Easter, I thought we should try dying Easter eggs with candy.

The Laffy Taffy looked pretty good when it was stuck on the egg. However, when we peeled it off, only one egg had any color left.

We'll have to try better ways to transfer color next year when it's egg season again.