Candy Electrophoresis Lab

Although none of our dyes traveled in the wrong direction or mixed colors, there were some minor differences between the reference dyes and the ones we were testing. For example, our red and orange were darker than the reference colors, whereas the reference dyes for blue and yellow were darker than ours. However, I think this can be attributed to the amount of dye we extracted from the candy. I did not find any major variance between the distance traveled by reference and test.

I think that citrus red 2 will migrate similar to the blue 1, carminic acid will go about as far as our red 40, fast green FCF should go about as far as yellow 6, and betanin will be about the same distance as yellow 5. This is my hypothesis because although they aren't the same colors and size of molecules, the order of dyes that we tested, yellow 5, yellow 6, red, blue will correspond to betanin, fast green FCF, carminic acid, and citrus red 2. In other words, although the chemicals won't go as far as the dyes (due to their size), they should order up in the way specified above.

Dog food manufacturers probably put food coloring in the dog food to entice the dogs to eat it. Most dog food does not consist of things that a dog would naturally be fed, so to get the dog to eat up, they need to use artificial flavoring, coloring and smells.

In my food I found the artificial dyes red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, and blue 1. I also found 2 natural dyes in cereal: annato extract color, and turmeric extract color. I found most of these dyes in cereals and sauces. It surprised me that I found the exact same dyes that we tested in the lab. I then searched the dyes up and learned that they are four of the seven permitted food colorings in the US.

The 2 factors that control the distance the dye travels is the dye's size, and how long you leave the gel in the electrophoresis box. In addition, I also think that the overall charge of the dye must also play a part in the direction it travels.

The force that moves the dye through the gel is the electromagnetic force. It is propagated through the current, caused by the voltage difference from the red cathode to the black one.

The reason why smaller dyes travel farther than large molecules of dye is because of the porous nature of the gel. Because the dye is inserted into the wells, they travel through the gel rather than on top. Thus, smaller dye molecules find it easier to navigate the cave-like environment found inside the gel.

Because DNA molecules of this size are so much larger than the dyes, I expect them not to travel as far. For this reason, it is necessary to leave the electrophoresis going for longer to see a difference in the distance traveled by each molecule of DNA.