Question 1

a. Explain why a component in a samole placed on a chromatography column spreqds out in a band as it moves through the column.

b. In chromatography, what is plate height? Is a larger or smaller plate height desirable?

c. Calculate the plate height (in millimeters) for a component places on a 15 meter column if it has a retention time of 2.41 minutes and a baseline width of 0.069 minutes. How many plates from the component are associated with this column?

d. Consider the following chromatography data for components on a 30 meter column:

(i) Calculate the retention factor for component A.

(ii) Calculate the resolution for components A and B. Do these peaks overlap to a significant extent? Explain.

ta (min) w (min) Component unretained 0.87 0.02 1.98 0.10 B 2.14 0.11