NOTES4

CHIJ St Theresa's Convent

Lower Secondary Science
Secondary 1 Express / Normal (Academic)
Chapter 4 Exploring Diversity of Matter using Separation Techniques – Notes

Name: _________________________ ( ) Class: 1 _____ Date: ________

At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:

 explain how the constituents of a mixture can be separated based on their properties, using the
following techniques:
a) magnetic attraction
b) filtration
c) evaporation
d) simple & fractional distillation
e) paper chromatography

 investigate the separation of constituents of mixtures based on basic principles involved in the
aforementioned separation techniques

 state some examples of the applications of the various separation techniques in everyday life and
industries e.g., water treatment, food safety and waste management

 show an appreciation of why water is a precious resource and the need to conserve it

 show an appreciation of how Singapore uses separation techniques to ensure a sustainable

source of potable water

4.1 What is the purpose of separation techniques? (TB 1A pg 80)

➢ Obtaining Pure Substances from Mixtures

1. A pure substance is made up of one single type of element or compound.

2. A mixture is made up of two or more different substances (elements or compounds) that

are not chemically combined together.

3. Separation techniques are physical methods to separate substances in a mixture.

Recall: Based on your knowledge of mixtures from Chapter 3. Complete the table.
Type of mixture Example Substances present Substance Type (*circle)

Mixture of 2 or more Copper Element / Compound

Brass
elements Zinc Element / Compound
Sodium chloride
Mixture of 2 or more Salt Element / Compound
(salt)
compounds solution
Water Element / Compound

Oxygen Element / Compound

Mixture of 2 or more
Air Carbon dioxide Element / Compound
elements & compounds
Nitrogen Element / Compound

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4.2 How do we choose the appropriate separation techniques? (TB 1A pg 80 – 93)

A. Separating a mixture of Magnetic and Non-Magnetic substances: Magnetic Attraction

(TB 1A pg 82 – 83)

1. With a magnet, magnetic attraction is used to separate __magnetic________ and

___non-magnetic substances___.

2. Examples of magnetic substances: Steel, Iron, Nickel, Cobalt

B. Separating a mixture of substances with different particle sizes: Filtration

(TB 1A pg 84 – 85)

1. Filtration is the process of separating substances of different particle size using a sieve.

2. A filter funnel and a filter paper are required.

Upon filtration, the solid

that remains on the filter
paper is called the residue.

The liquid or solution that

passes through the filter
paper is called the filtrate.

3. Particles that are smaller than the pores of the filter paper pass through forming the filtrate.

4. Particles which are bigger than the pores of the filter paper are retained forming the residue.

C. Obtaining the solute from a solution: Evaporation (TB 1A pg 86 – 87)

1. This technique is used to obtain a dissolved solid (solute) from a liquid (solvent) by heating
the solution until all the liquid has boiled off.

evaporating dish
salt solution

2. Example: Salt solution

• Heat is applied to the salt solution. So water in the solution changes state to water
vapour very quickly and is lost to the atmosphere

• Water changes states at a lower temperature than salt. So salt is left behind in the
evaporating dish as the residue

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D. Obtaining a liquid from a mixture of substances with different boiling points:
Simple Distillation (TB 1A pg 88 – 90)

1. Distillation is a process that separates substances with different boiling point through
boiling and condensation to obtain a solvent from solution.

thermometer
water out
inner tube
condenser
water jacket

boiling
chips sea
water
water in

water
pure water
(distillate)

2. The mixture is boiled and the substance with the lower boiling point in the mixture changes
into vapour first.

3. This vapour condenses when it comes into contact with a surface of a lower temperature.

Apparatus Procedure Reason

Thermometer • The bulb of the thermometer • This ensures the thermometer
is placed beside the side measures the boiling point of
arms of the distillation flask. the substance being distilled

Precaution: thermometer should

not be dipped into solution
Condenser
a) inner tube
(label the inner tubes and
outer water jacket on the
condenser diagrams) b) outer water jacket
Thinking Questions
• Why does the condenser
slope downwards?
a) water vapour cools and
condenses into pure water
(distillate) in the inner tube
b) outer water jacket is filled with
cold running water
• ensures pure water formed
flows downwards and collects
in the conical flask

• Why does cold water enter ensures the condenser is

the outer water jacket from completely filled with water for
the bottom of the condenser efficient cooling.
and exit from the top?

Learning Points TB 1A pg 90 Qns 1 – 2

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E. Separating a mixture of substances that dissolve to different extents in a solvent:
Chromatography (TB 1A pg 91 – 92)

1. Chromatography is used to separate small amounts of different substances that dissolve to

different extents in the same solvent.

Filter paper

Ink spot
(*Precaution! Ensure that the ink spot
is above the solvent level. Why?)

Solvent Start line

(Ethanol or water) (*Precaution! Can I use a pen to draw?)

2. Substances that are more soluble in the solvent travel faster and longer distances from the
starting point.

3. Substances that are insoluble in the solvent remain at the starting point.

4. Paper chromatography can be used to separate and identify colours in dyes or food
products and detect water pollutants.

5. The filter paper with the separated components is called a chromatogram.

Let’s Practise

In the chromatogram below, identify the following:

a) most soluble substance
b) least soluble substance
c) insoluble substance

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Let’s Practise

Chromatography was performed on a sample of food colouring (‘X’) and 4 banned dyes (‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’
and ‘D’). If X contains any of the 4 banned dyes, it is not safe to be consumed.

Before chromatography After Chromatography

Answer the following questions using the results of the chromatography experiment.

a) Which 2 dyes are pure substances? (*Hint: pure substances - made of a single component)

Dyes A and D

Explanation: Pure substances are made of a single component so only 1 spot should be
observed on the chromatogram.

b) Which 2 dyes are mixtures? (*Hint: mixtures - made of 2 or more different components)

Dyes B and C

Explanation: Mixtures are made of 2 or more different components so 2 or more different spots
should be observed on the chromatogram.

c) Are there any identical dyes? Explain.

No.
Identical dyes will have spots of the same colour and same height on the chromatogram for
the same solvent.
This means that the dyes are made up of different substances.

d) Does food colouring X contain any of the banned dyes? Explain.

When separated into components, the chromatogram of sample X shows that it contains all the
components of C.

Sample X does not contain the banned dyes A, B and D.

Since it contains the banned dye C, it must not be consumed.

.
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4.3 How can we apply separation techniques to obtain potable water in Singapore?
(TB 1A pg 94 – 100)

A. Sources of water in Singapore – our 4 national taps

1. Rainwater from local catchment and Imported water

• Rainwater collected through a network of drains, canals and rivers is channeled to

17 reservoirs for storage

• Singapore also imports water from Johor, Malaysia

• The Rainwater from local catchment and imported water are transported to our
waterworks where it is chemically treated, filtered and disinfected

• The treated water is then supplied as tapwater

2. NEWater

• NEWater is obtained from treated used water in NEWater plants using a three-
step process consisting of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet
disinfection.

3. Desalinated water

• Pure drinking water is obtained from seawater through Desalination

• Desalination can be carried out using distillation OR reverse osmosis

• Since a large amount of fuel is required to heat a big volume of seawater in

distillation, it uses a lot of energy and is unsustainable

• In Singapore desalination is carried out using reverse osmosis

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FYI

A. Obtaining the solute from solution: Crystallisation

4. Obtaining a pure dissolved solid (solute) from a liquid (solvent) by heating the solution till
saturation before cooling it to allow crystal formation

• The solution is heated until most of the solvent (water) has evaporated forming a
saturated solution.

• The hot, saturated solution is allowed to cool eg. the dissolved copper(II) sulfate
appears as pure crystals

• The cold solution is removed by filtration.

• The residue of pure crystals is washed with cold distilled water and dried by
pressing them between pieces of filter paper.

B. Separating a mixture of miscible liquids with different boiling points: Fractional Distillation

1. Liquids that dissolve in each other completely to form a solution are described as miscible.

Label the fractional

distillation set-up shown

Fractionating
Column

Apparatus Procedure Reason

Fractionating column During heating,

• Fractionating column’s glass • Vapours of liquids that have not

beads / inner folds provide a
larger surface area for the
condensation of vapour that
has not reached its boiling
point
• Vapours of liquids at the boiling
reached its boiling point would
condense along the fractionating
column and fall back into the
round-bottomed flask
point would pass through the
fractionating column and enter the
condenser
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Chromatography

1. Chromatography is the method of separating two or more components that dissolve in the
same solvent.

2. Paper chromatography can be used to separate colours, dyes or pigments. The

chromatography paper with the separated components is called a chromatogram.

1. If a dye is put in small spots at the bottom of the paper, and dipped into a solvent, the solutes
present in the dye dissolve to different extents.

2. Some solutes are more soluble in the mobile solvent moving up the paper. Others are less
soluble in the solvent and therefore do not travel very far across the paper. This difference in
solubility allows the different pigments in the dye to be separated.

3. Other than identifying colour pigments, chromatography can be used to detect trace impurities
in drugs and food.

Determining Purity

1. Pure solids have fixed melting points. Any presence of impurity lowers the melting point and
causes the substance to melt over a range of temperatures.

2. An example would be the addition of salt to ice. Pure ice melts exactly at 0°C. When salt is
added, it lowers the melting point to values of between –5ºC to –25ºC, depending on how
much salt is added.

3. Pure liquids have fixed boiling points. Any presence of impurity raises the boiling point.

Updated in Jan 2023