Resumen de Peak Race: An In-Class Game Introducing Chromatography Concepts and Terms in Art Conservation
Jocelyn Alcantara Garcia, Mike Szelewski
Chromatography is an indisputably useful analytical technique in the Cultural Heritage arena, and as such it is part of the science Art Conservation curriculum at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC). Future conservators must understand that development of a chromatogram is the result of different interactions with sample components, mobile and stationary phases, that result in observable peaks at specific retention times. Art and archeology analyses are special in that samples are usually scarce and contain aged and/or degraded complex mixture components. Broadening and overlapping of peaks can be two consequences of the variables, and oftentimes the logics behind such important outcomes can be challenging for students. Here we present an innovative teaching method in the form of a game to help in their understanding of a chromatogram development, why different compounds have specific retention times, and how peaks get broader and/or overlap.
