Gel permeation chromatography
Do you know how you use a strainer to separate pasta from the water it was cooked in? Gel permeation chromatography is like a super fancy strainer that scientists use to separate different sizes of molecules.
Imagine that we have a mix of tiny and big balls, but we want to only see the tiny ones. So, we need a strainer with really small holes that will only let the tiny balls pass through, but will trap the big ones.
The Gel permeation chromatography works in a similar way: scientists put the mixture of molecules into a tube filled with a special gel. The gel has small holes or pores that only allow small molecules to pass through, while the large molecules get stuck.
A special liquid, called a mobile phase, is then run through the tube, carrying along each type of molecule that gets through the pores. The tiny molecules travel through the gel faster than the big ones, so in the end, the different sizes of molecules are separated into different groups or fractions.
This separation helps scientists study, identify, and measure the different molecules in a mixture, which can be helpful in many fields, including medicine and environmental sciences.
Imagine that we have a mix of tiny and big balls, but we want to only see the tiny ones. So, we need a strainer with really small holes that will only let the tiny balls pass through, but will trap the big ones.
The Gel permeation chromatography works in a similar way: scientists put the mixture of molecules into a tube filled with a special gel. The gel has small holes or pores that only allow small molecules to pass through, while the large molecules get stuck.
A special liquid, called a mobile phase, is then run through the tube, carrying along each type of molecule that gets through the pores. The tiny molecules travel through the gel faster than the big ones, so in the end, the different sizes of molecules are separated into different groups or fractions.
This separation helps scientists study, identify, and measure the different molecules in a mixture, which can be helpful in many fields, including medicine and environmental sciences.