Is Black Really Black? Let’s see... black is black!!! Well, maybe not. email to friend
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1. Start by using the black pen to mark a dot in the center of the filter paper. Draw a circle of dots around the dot in the middle of the paper. When you’re finished, it should look like the drawing.
2. Use the scissors to cut a piece of pipe cleaner about 2 inches (5 cm) long. Fill one of the plastic cups about halfway with water. Carefully push the small piece of pipe cleaner into the hole in the center of the filter paper where you placed the center dot.
3. Place the filter paper and pipe cleaner on top of the plastic cup so the pipe cleaner is getting wet. Be careful not to get the filter paper wet yet. As the pipe cleaner gets wet, the water will slowly crawl up to the filter paper and start to get it wet, too. This may take a while, so be patient. It’s worth the wait!

   What happens to the black dots when they get wet? How did the colors get on the paper? Take the paper and the pipe cleaner off the cup of water when the “design” is about half the size of the paper. If you let the paper soak up too much water, the design gets blurry and faded. Set your paper some place safe to dry.

Making Rainbow Flowers

• Make 2 or 3 bursts of color on separate pieces of filter paper.
• Let them dry completely.
• Cut off the outer white edge of the filter paper so you’re left with just a burst of color.
• Fold the paper into the shape of a flower (petals).
• Poke a pipe cleaner through the center of filter paper.
• Bend the bottom part of the pipe cleaner into the shape of a leaf.
• Voila! You’ve made a rainbow flower.

  How does it work?

  So, is black really just black? No! Black is a whole bunch of colors mixed together. There’s literally a rainbow of color hiding in just one black dot! The burst of color that you see on the filter paper proves that black is really a combination of colors. This technique of color separation is actually called chromatography which was originally used to separate different plant pigments. The science behind the rainbow is simply this: The ink dissolves in the water (that’s why they call it water soluble) and moves in between the fibers of the paper where it is separated into bands of color. You might see as many as six or seven different circles of color. Try this... Experiment with other black pens found around the house. You’ll want to make sure the pens are water soluble to get them to separate into individual colors. As you experiment with different brands of pens and markers, you’ll notice that each brand leaves its own unique color pattern on the filter.