The Black Magic in Ink

Recently in P6, we have been carrying out experiments to help us improve our scientific report writing. The most recent experiment we did was to investigate the colours hidden in a black felt pen (not permanent).

We used

Coffee filter paper
water
a beaker
a black felt pen (Not permanent)

1) We carefully cut the filter paper into a circle, then drew a black dot in the centre
2) We then placed the paper into the beaker of water, making sure it was only just touching the water.
3) Next, observed

We discovered that when the water soaked up through the paper and made contact with the ink, the ink separated into lots of colours. When we tried it with a permanent marker the colours did not separate