Candy Electrophoresis Lab

In this lab, we used the process called Gel Electrophoresis to observe the different colors of the candies. Comparing the four reference dyes to the four experimental sample, they acted similarly, meaning they moved at about the same rate and the bands were about the same size. In addition, all of the dyes moved in the “right” direction, from the negative end to the positive end of the gel.

The four on the left were the reference dyes and the four on the right were the experimental samples.

These were the samples after the process. The 3 yellow bands were at about the same length and were the same color. The 2 red bands, similarly, were the same length and their colors were almost identical. Like the yellow and red bands, the 2 orange bands looked very similar. However, the green experimental sample seemed to split into two separate bands, one yellow, which acted similar to the yellow reference dye, and one blue, which was the same length but a lighter color than the blue reference dye.

Looking at the 4 dye structures, Betanin, Carminic Acid, Fast Green FCF, and Citrus red 2, Fast Green FCF has the same structure as the blue reference dye, which is why the Fast Green FCF would react similarly to the blue reference dye. Since the structures with the longest length move the slowest, and in this experiment the blue dye moved the slowest, structures with lengths longer than Fast Green FCF wouldn’t be comparable to the dyes from this experiment, which is why Betanin wouldn’t act similar to any of the dyes from this experiment. In this experiment, the blue dye moved the slowest out of the other dyes by a noticeable amount. Since Carminic Acid has a structure similar but not identical to Fast Green FCF, and the blue dye from the experimental sample, which came from skittles, had a structure similar but not identical to the blue dye, the Carminic Acid would be comparable to the blue band that split out of the green experimental sample. In addition, since the shorter structured band travels the fastest and the structure is similar to the yellow reference dye, the Citrus red 2 would be comparable to the yellow bands from the experiment.

Artificial food coloring is put in many foods including those for dogs as a strategy to make the food appear more appealing. The foods with a more appealing look would be bought by more people, making the company more money but also encouraging them and other companies to add more artificial food coloring to be placed in dog food.

In the process of Gel Electrophoresis, the main factors that contribute to the migration of the dyes are their size, the electrical current passing through, and for how long we left the electrical current passing through. The smaller the size the faster the dye passes through the gel as shown by the yellow dyes. However, as the longer dyes pass through much slower as shown by the blue dyes. In this experiment, we had the bands electrophoresed for 15 minutes at 100 volts. However, the main force that causes the process of Gel Electrophoresis to occur is the electrical current.

There are small holes in the agarose. Because of the size of the bands, the smaller structures are able to move through the gels more easily and thereby quicker. As a result of moving at a slower pace, the longer strands get left behind, which is how the molecules are able to separate by size. If the molecules with the molecular weight of 600, 1000, 2000, and 5000 daltons, I believe the molecules with the molecular weight of 600 would travel the farthest, the molecule with 1000 daltons would travel second fastest, the molecule with 2000 daltons would come in third, and the molecule with 5000 daltons would move the shortest distance.