A sample contains three components (A, B and C). A has a strong affinity for the paper, B for water. C has some affinity for both water and the paper. Four spots (pure A, pure B, pure C and the mixture of all three) are made on a piece of chromatography paper (the stationary phase) and the paper put into a beaker containing water (the mobile phase). After developing, the chromatogram is obtained.
Note that because A had a strong affinity for the paper, it did not move very far up the paper. B, because of its strong affinity for the water, moved up a significant distance. C, with an affinity for each phase, moved an intermediate distance.
We can further observe that our mixture of A, B, and C did indeed contain at least some of each component because there is a spot corresponding to each of the individual components. If one of these spots was missing, we would know that the mixture does not have that particular component.
