---
title: "A student investigates the composition of a food dye mixture containing a yellow dye and a blue dye using paper chromatography. The stationary phase is chromatography paper composed of polar cellulose fibers, and the mobile phase is a nonpolar organic solvent. The blue dye molecules possess multiple polar hydroxyl and sulfonate functional groups, whereas the yellow dye molecules are predominantly nonpolar. The chromatogram is developed until the solvent front travels a distance of \\(8.0\\text{ cm}\\) from the baseline origin. The yellow dye spot travels \\(6.0\\text{ cm}\\), and the blue dye spot travels \\(2.0\\text{ cm}\\). What is the retention factor (\\(R_f\\)) of the dye component that has the stronger intermolecular attractions with the stationary phase?"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/119687/"
date_modified: "2026-08-21T08:12:03+00:00"
---

# A student investigates the composition of a food dye mixture containing a yellow dye and a blue dye using paper chromatography. The stationary phase is chromatography paper composed of polar cellulose fibers, and the mobile phase is a nonpolar organic solvent. The blue dye molecules possess multiple polar hydroxyl and sulfonate functional groups, whereas the yellow dye molecules are predominantly nonpolar. The chromatogram is developed until the solvent front travels a distance of \(8.0\text{ cm}\) from the baseline origin. The yellow dye spot travels \(6.0\text{ cm}\), and the blue dye spot travels \(2.0\text{ cm}\). What is the retention factor (\(R_f\)) of the dye component that has the stronger intermolecular attractions with the stationary phase?

A student investigates the composition of a food dye mixture containing a yellow dye and a blue dye using paper chromatography. The stationary phase is chromatography paper composed of polar cellulose fibers, and the mobile phase is a nonpolar organic solvent. The blue dye molecules possess multiple polar hydroxyl and sulfonate functional groups, whereas the yellow dye molecules are predominantly nonpolar. The chromatogram is developed until the solvent front travels a distance of \(8.0\text{ cm}\) from the baseline origin. The yellow dye spot travels \(6.0\text{ cm}\), and the blue dye spot travels \(2.0\text{ cm}\). What is the retention factor (\(R_f\)) of the dye component that has the stronger intermolecular attractions with the stationary phase?

![A vertical rectangular paper chromatography strip is shown in grayscale. A horizontal dashed line near the bottom is labeled Baseline origin. A horizontal dashed line near the top is labeled Solvent front. Between the two dashed lines, a vertical double-headed dimension arrow on the far right indicates the total distance between the baseline origin and solvent front as \(8.0\text{ cm}\). Along the central vertical path of the strip, two circular spots are shown: a lower solid black circular spot labeled Blue dye and an upper solid gray circular spot labeled Yellow dye. A vertical dimension arrow on the left indicates the distance from the baseline origin to the center of the blue dye spot as \(2.0\text{ cm}\). A second vertical dimension arrow adjacent to it indicates the distance from the baseline origin to the center of the yellow dye spot as \(6.0\text{ cm}\). No other particles, labels, text, or annotations appear.](https://nerd-notes.com/wp-content/uploads/ubq-frq-generated/stem-fig-1-1787299922-LXR6PO.jpg)

- **A.** \(0.25\)
- **B.** \(0.33\)
- **C.** \(0.75\)
- **D.** \(4.0\)

*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/119687/*