Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1. When I analyzed the reference and candy dye, I found that there was a huge mismatch when it came to our blue dye and the reference blue dye. The blue dye lagged much behind than the rest of the dyes. Our blue dye had completely fallen out of the gel, while the reference blue dye was still completely in the gel. Also, the dyes that we got were much more thick and harder to take out of the micropipette. These dyes might be a combination of multiple dyes in one, as when they were electrophoresed, they spread out and became multiple colors. This was also another difference, as the reference dyes only formed one color band, while some of the dyes that we got from the candy separated, such as the orange dye. These dyes might be combinations of many different chemicals to form a single dye, thus the multiple color bands.
2. Fast green FCF is probably migrates very similarly to the blue 1 that we examined with electrophoresis. This is because it is chemically similar to blue 1, with only 1 extra OH element attached to the six-carbon bond. Citrus red 2, yellow 6, and red 40 also share similar properties, but in the test, yellow 6 and red 40 differed in lengths in the electrophoresis that we did. Thus, citrus red 2 must also migrate differently.
3. Dog food manufacturers put artificial food dyes into the dog food to make the pet owner more satisfied with the vibrancy, perhaps being tricked to thinking it's more nutritious, healthier, or tastier to dogs, when really it isn't, especially since dogs do not care what color their food is. The pet food industry is not as regulated as the human food industry is, so dyes that are banned in the human food industry might not yet be banned in the pet food industry.
4. Companies might prefer artificial food colors over natural food colors, because artificial ones might be more vibrant, attracting more customers that way, or cheaper. However, the difference as for health concerns is negligible. However, some dyes in the past are known to be carcinogens. Most of them have been banned by the FDA, however, some unknown to cause diseases might still be out there.
5. Two of the factors that might change the distance that the colored dye migrates is the complexity of the dye and how much of an electric field it might have.
6. The electric current helps move the dye through the gel. It makes the dyes, which all are negatively charged, move in the direction of the positive electrode, just as anything else with a negative charge should.
7. The gel allows the molecules to separate by size, because it is not only a good conductive material, but it has holes for the dyes to pass through. Thus, the dyes with the least amount of mass will go the farthest.
8. The DNA molecules would separate relatively to their molecular weight in daltons, assuming that all the DNA strands are dyed with the same agarose dye.

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