UV - Visible Spectra of Various Colored Inks
Abstract
Humankind’s use of ink can be traced back 40,000 years beginning with northern Spanish cave paintings created using ink based on manganese dyes, plant sap, and animal blood. The ballpoint ink pen was invented in 1888, followed by the invention of the gel pen in 1984. Bic® has produced a package of Cristal® ballpoint pens that have a variety of colors, and Paper Mate® has done the same with Profile® gel pens. The ink from these writing instruments can be analyzed and classified. In order to do so, the ink must be extracted from the pen and placed in an ethanolic solution. An Ocean Optics ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) spectrometer was used to produce absorbance spectra of the various colored inks. The absorbance spectra of the ballpoint inks were then compared and contrasted to the absorbance spectra of the gel inks of corresponding colors.
UV - Visible Spectra of Various Colored Inks
Humankind’s use of ink can be traced back 40,000 years beginning with northern Spanish cave paintings created using ink based on manganese dyes, plant sap, and animal blood. The ballpoint ink pen was invented in 1888, followed by the invention of the gel pen in 1984. Bic® has produced a package of Cristal® ballpoint pens that have a variety of colors, and Paper Mate® has done the same with Profile® gel pens. The ink from these writing instruments can be analyzed and classified. In order to do so, the ink must be extracted from the pen and placed in an ethanolic solution. An Ocean Optics ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) spectrometer was used to produce absorbance spectra of the various colored inks. The absorbance spectra of the ballpoint inks were then compared and contrasted to the absorbance spectra of the gel inks of corresponding colors.