In the chromatography of a glow stick solution, a piece of chalk, a highly polar substance, is used as the stationary phase while comparatively less-polar solvents like acetone and 91% isopropyl alcohol can be used as the mobile phase. Chalk is made up of calcium carbonate (CaCO) or calcium sulfate  (CaSO), and therefore contains ions. This allows it to attract other ions and polar molecules, but not nonpolar molecules. As a result, ionic and more-polar dyes would be attracted to the stationary phase and move relatively slowly or a fairly small distance, while less polar dyes would migrate further as the mobile phase wicks up the chalk. This then allows for the separation of dyes.