How do you read gas chromatography data?

[mrh125]

like with this what do the areas and retention times tell you? larger area = more of that compound/relative percentage (take mean of total to get percent of product it is), higher retention time = higher boiling point? I attached the passage that had a question about it (item 115). Someone explain plz.

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[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Are those official AAMC questions? If so, this thread is going to likely get deleted. SDN really doesn't like "spoiling" official AAMC questions by putting discussions of them anywhere other than the specific threads addressing them. Your question itself is fine, so your post is probably okay if you just delete the attachment.

Other than that, it sounds like you're asking about the basics of how GC works. Like any chromatography, the more something likes to "stick" to the stationary phase, the slower it will move. Thus in GC, the more something "sticks" to the stationary phase, the longer its retention time is. The stationary phase in GC's can be nonpolar or polar, based on what sorts of things you're trying to separate out.

Really, the first three paragraphs in the wiki entry is a good, clear description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_chromatography