When a drop of ink is placed on an absorbent material it sticks On adding an eluting solvent it dissolves the dye spread out with it The denser and sticky pure dye move least The least densesticky pure dye move farthest A pure dye will produce the same chromatogramspot if the same eluting solvent is used on the same absorbent material Comparing the distance moved by a pure dye with a mixture the coloured dyes in a mixture can be deduced as below