Re: What exactly is Chromatography?

Chromatography is a name given to a whole range of techniques used to 
separate mixtures into their individual components.  It was invented  and 
named by a Russian botanist called Mikhail Tswett during the early years 
of the 20th century.

The techniques use the fact that different molecules often have different 
affinities for 2 phases, a stationary phase and a mobile phase.  The most 
common types of chromatography include Gas Liquid Chromatography (GC)which 
uses a Liquid stationary phase and a gas mobile phase and High Performance 
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) which uses a liquid stationary phase and a 
liquid mobile phase.

There are many variations on these techniques, and chromatography is 
probably the most widely used technique in a modern lab today, for 
example, most forensic analysis on blood and urine is done by either GC or 
HPLC.

I have not gone into very much detail, it would take me all day, but I 
include a web site which you should find interesting, there is even an 
animation showing two different types of molecules traveling down a 
column, and how their different affinities result in them being separated.

Thank you for the questions & est wishes.
 http://srd.yahoo.com/drst/245240/*http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/chemsep/