Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i decided to make a science project about using plants to make marker ink.well my teacher gave me the idea, she said that plants had a potential in producing ink.The objective is to avoid using of chemicals which is dangerous to the users, especially by the odour. So i started by trying to collect the information on how to make a marker ink.but i get stucked on how to compare plants with the chemical in marker.helllpp please

Hi,

Making ink out of plants sounds both practical and fun. Here are some ideas:

http://aftermathblog.wordpress.com/2006 ... ng-of-ink/

http://www.heronter.org/Library/FYIHeal ... paper.html

http://denevell_books.home.insightbb.com/making_walnut_ink.htm


Here is a list of plants that can be used for ink. Click on the Latin name for a background page, the detail page has numbered references at the bottom, which may provide details on how to make the ink.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/fin ... nk&CAN=can

Here is a wikipedia entry on ink with interesting links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink

I don’t think you would any problem with ink being toxic if you make it out of blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, or onion skins as the following link suggests. The walnut ink and oak gall inks described above might be somewhat toxic. Commercial marker pen inks have to be assumed to be toxic unless you have definite information to the contrary.

Here is a classroom activity on making 4 different kinds of inks:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/a ... nland.html

This is a great project. I hope you really have fun with it.

Best Regards,

Barrett Tomlinson