Separating Materials

I. Separating an insoluble solid from a liquid (Mixture of an insoluble solid and a liquid)
Method One: Filtering (OR) Filteration
(1) To separate mixture of sand and water
(2) To separate mixture of chalk dust and water
(3) To separate mixture of coffee grains and filter coffee
(4) To separate beer from its sediments(yeast)
Method Two: Centrifuging (OR) Centrifugation

Figure: Laboratory Centrifuge Figure: Centrifuge for domestic clean water supply
Centrifuge: A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is
achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed.
(1) To separate suspended tiny particles from a liquid
(2) To separate denser blood cells from blood plasma
[ blood(four mains components): plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets ]
(3) To separate milk from cream (used in dairies)
(4) To collect cells, to precipitate DNA, to purify virus particles and to distinguish subtle, different in the
conformation of molecules

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 Plasma: The colorless fluid part of blood, lymph, or milk, or in
which corpuscles or fat globules are suspended.
Buffy coat: The buffy coat is the fraction of an anticoagulated
blood sample that contains most of the white blood cell and
platelets following centrifugation.
Leukocytes: white blood cells
Erythrocytes: Red blood cells
Platelets: colourless blood cells that help blood clot.

II. Separating a soluble solid from a solution(Mixture of a soluble solid and a liquid)
Key Terms: Solution, Solute, Solvent, Soluble, Insoluble, Evaporation, Crystallisation
If the solvent evaporates slowly from a solution, the solute is often left behind as large, well-shaped
crystals.
Usually, evaporation is carried out more rapidly by boiling the solution. In this case, the solute is left
behind as small, poorly shaped crystals.
III. Separating a solvent from a solution(Mixture of a soluble solid and a liquid)
Key Terms: Distillation, Distillate, Condensation
Distillation = Evaporation + Condensation
Distillation is an important process in:
■ obtainingpure drinking water from seawater in parts of the Middle East
where fuel is cheap
■ making ‘spirits’ such as whisky, gin and vodka from diluted alcoholic
solutions.
IV. Separating liquids which mix completely(Separating the homogeneous mixture of liquids)
Key Terms: Miscible, Immiscible, Fractional distillation

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IV. Separating similar substances
Chromatography
Chromatography is the method of separating the constituents of a mixture by making use of their different
rates of movement over adsorbent medium in contact with the appropriate solvent. For each constituent, the rate of
movement depends on the relative affinities of the constituents for the solvent and for the adsorbent medium.
Key Terms: Chromatography, Paper Chromatography

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Paper Chromatography

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 When paper is used as the adsorbent material and the solution containing the mixture moves upward the
paper, the technique is called paper chromatography. As the liquid moves upward on the paper, it carries the
mixture along. The components not only that are adsorbed most strongly to the paper but also that are less soluble
in the solvent move most slowly.

Example: Identify substances in a colourless mixture

Amino acids coming up! When you digest food, the proteins in it are broken down to amino acids. Your body needs
20 different amino acids to stay healthy.

Test-tubes A–E on the right below contain five colourless solutions of amino acids, dissolved in water. The solution in A
contains several amino acids. The other solutions contain just one each.

Your task is to identify all the amino acids in A–E.

1 Place a spot of each solution along a line drawn in pencil on slotted chromatography paper, as shown below. (The purpose
of the slots is to keep the samples separate.) Label each spot in pencil at the top of the paper.

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Study Questions (Try yourself)
1 Explain in your own words how paper chromatography works.
2 (a) What do you think a locating agent is? (b) Why would you need one, in an experiment to separate amino
acids by chromatography?
3 What makes Rf values so useful?
4 For the chromatogram above: (a) Were any of the amino acids in B–E also present in A? How can you tell at a
glance?
(b) Using a ruler, work out the Rf values for the amino acids in A–E. (c) Now use the Rf table above to name them.

Exam-style questions( Try yourself )

1 State the name of the process(es) that you would use to obtain
a sugar crystals from a mixture of sugar and sand
b pure water from an aqueous solution of copper(II) sulfate
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c liquid octane (boiling point 126 °C) from a mixture of liquid octane and liquid decane (boiling point 174 °C)
d pure silver chloride from the precipitate formed when aqueous silver nitrate is added to dilute hydrochloric acid.
In some cases, only one process is required, but others may require more than one. [Total: 8 marks]

2 A student was told to make pure crystals of copper( II) sulfate from an aqueous solution of copper( II) sulfate.
Describe how the student should this carry out. [4 marks]

3 A student is given a mixture of two amino acids. The amino acids are both colourless solids that are soluble in
water. Give full experimental details of how you would separate and identify the amino acids present in the mixture
using paper chromatography. You are provided with all the necessary apparatus and a suitable locating agent.
[5 marks]