Candy Electrophoresis Lab

None of our dyes had moved  in the wrong direction or mixed colors. The differences that had occurred between the reference dyes and the ones that we were testing there were that our red and orange were darker than the reference dyes, but for blue and yellow reference was darker than ours. However, I think this can be attributed to the amount of dye we extracted from the candy. 


I think that citrus blue 1 will move similar to red 2. Red 40 goes as fast as carminic acid. Yellow 6 goes as far as FCF. I think that yellow 5 should go as far as betanin. I chose this to be my hypothesis because although they may not be the same color and be the same size. The order of the dyes were random but stilled corresponded to betanin and the other reference dyes. Although the chemicals won't go as far as the dyes, they would order up.


Things like colored goldfish would probably contain food coloring to entice small kids into eating it. Most crackers does not contain food coloring and flavors. The company uses flavoring and colors so the kids eat it up.

I found all of those dyes in some cereal and sauces (tomato ketchup). I was surprised to find those dyes in my food and even found those done in the lab. I also found some natural color dyes annato extract color, and turmeric extract color. I learned that there are 7 dyes permitted in the US and I found most of them in my pantry at home.

There are  2 main factors that control the distance the dye travels is the dye's size, and how long you leave the gel in the electrophoresis box. I also think that the overall charge of the dye must also play a part in the direction it travels. I think this is by chance and can't be replicated exatly.

The force that moves the dye through the gel is the electromagnetic force. It sends a current through the gel and that is caused by the voltage .

The smaller dyes  traveled faster because of the holes that were in the gel. Smaller molecules move faster throughout the gel as they can fit through the holes easier.

I think that the gel should have been running so it would have been easier to see the difference in the lengths. Then we could see the DNA molecules of this size are so much larger than the dyes, I expect them not to travel as far.