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35 votes
35 votes
In a thin layer chromatography experiment, a plate of length 9.3 cm was used and a horizontal line was made at 1.45 cm above the bottom of the plate. After running the experiment (developing and drying), a spot was observed at 5.6 cm from the bottom of the plate, and the solvent front was 7.7 cm from the bottom of the plate. What is the Rf value

User Autodidacticon
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1 Answer

12 votes
12 votes

Answer: The
R_f value is 0.664

Step-by-step explanation:

Distance travelled by solvent front = (7.7-1.45)cm = 6.25 cm

Distance travelled by unknown = (5.6-1.45) cm = 4.15 cm

The retention factor or the
R_f value is defined as the ratio of distance traveled by the unknown to the distance traveled by the solvent front.


R_f=\frac{\text {distance travelled by unknown}}{\text {distance travelled by solvent}}


R_f=(4.15)/(6.25)=0.664

Thus the
R_f value is 0.664

User HadleyHope
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