Separation of Substances

Important points
1. Combination of more than one substance forms a
mixture.
Eg: Lemon juice etc.
2. Some mixtures are natural while some are manmade.
Examples of natural mixtures are soil, air, water.
Examples of manmade mixtures are lemon water, laddu,
fruit salad, etc.
3. The individual substances present in a mixture are called
components.
4. We separate components in a mixture for different
purposes in our daily life.
5. The purpose of separation of substances from a mixture
is
a) To separate two different but useful components
b) To separate the non useful components
c) To separate the harmful components or impurities
6. By doing the separation, we are improving the purity of
the substance.
7. We can use several properties of materials for
separation of components from the mixture.
8. We can use properties like solubility, density,
sublimation, size, weight etc to separate the
components.
9. Hand picking is used to separate substances when their
sizes are sufficiently large and they differ in colour,
shapes.
Eg: stones are separated from rice using this technique.
Separating rotten grapes
10. The process used to separate the grain from stalks
is called threshing. In this process, the stalks are beaten
to free the grain seeds against a hard surface.
11. Sometimes, threshing is done with the help of
bullocks. Machines (like combine) are also used to
thresh large quantities of grain.
12. We can use winnowing method to separate the
lighter and heavier components of a mixture by wind or
by blowing air.
13. The lighter particles are carried away by the wind.
The heavier particles form a heap near the platform.
Eg. Farmers separate the grains, husk, and straw by
winnowing methods. Here, the wind carries the lighter
particles like husk, straw while the grains fall vertically
down.
14. Insoluble substances in a liquid can be separated by
sedimentation followed by decantation method.
15. In this method, the substance should be denser
than the solvent.
16. The process of settling the impurities in a solution is
called sedimentation and the substances are called
sediments.
Eg. The separation of sand particles from water. The
sand particles are allowed to settle down in the solution.
After sand particles settles down, the supernatant liquid
is slowly and carefully transferred into another beaker.
17. The process of transferring the supernatant liquid
to another beaker is called decantation.
18. Sometimes, a substance is added to fasten the
sedimentation process. This process is called loading.
Eg; when alum, a chemical substance, is added to mud
water the sediments will settle down quickly.
19. Sieving is used for separating the components in a
mixture if they have a different size.
Eg: Separation of coriander seeds from wheat flour.
When this mixture is sieved, the wheat flour pass
through the sieve while the coriander seeds remain on
the sieve.
20. Sieving process depends on the hole size of the
sieve.
21. Filteration: this process is used to separate the
insoluble substances from the solution. In this, a filter
paper ( a paper with small holes) is used.
22. The solution is passed through the filter paper.
23. The insoluble substances will remain on the filter
paper and the clear solution pass through which is
collected in a separate beaker.
24. The insoluble substances which remain on filter
paper are called residue and the liquid collected is called
“filtrate”.
25. Crystallisation : This process is used for the
separation of dissolved substances from a liquid. In this
process, the substance is dissolved in a suitable solvent
under hot condition. The saturated solution is filtered
under hot condition to remove any suspended
impurities. The filtered solution is gradually cooled to
the room temperature. The substance will then separate
in the form of pure crystals.
Finally, the pure crystals separated from the solution by
filtration are dried.
26. In crystallisation, there is always loss of substance.
But the crystals are of pure.
27. Evaporation: This process is also used for
separation of dissolved substances from a liquid. In this
process, there is loss of solvent.
Eg: When sea water having many salts is allowed to
stand in shallow pits, water gets heated by sunlight and
slowly turns into water vapour by evaporation. Salts are
precipitated out. Common salt is then obtained from
this mixture of salts by crystallisation.
28. Distillation: Evaporation followed by condensation
is called distillation. Using this method, we can purify
the water.
This method is used for the separation of liquid
components from a mixture based on their difference in
boiling points.
29. Sublimation : The process of conversion of solid
into gas directly without converting into liquid state is
called sublimation. This process is used when one of the
components undergo sublimation.
Eg: Mixture of salt and camphor .
Camphor is a sublimable substance whereas salt do not.
When the mixture is heated, camphor escapes out in the
form of gas leaving behind salt.
30. Chromatography: This is a novel (newly invented)
technique to separate the components present in a
mixture.
In this process, the mixture is made to run in a suitable
solvent for some time to separate the components.
It is used for separation of those solutes that dissolve in
the same solvent.
Eg: Take a chalk piece and make a mark using ink.
Place the marked chalk in water in such a way that the
mark should not dip in the water.
The chalk absorbs the water and the ink mark will move
upwards.
 The component that is more soluble in water, rises
faster and this way colours get separated.
Chromatography is also used for
a) Separation of colours in a dye.
b) Pigments from natural colours
c) Drugs from blood.
31. Loading:
The process of making sedimentation faster is called
loading.
Eg: Alum is added to mud water. Then the sediments i.e.
mud particles settle down quickly.
Questions and answers.
1. Is it possible to separate sugar mixed with wheat
flour? If yes, how will you do it? If powdered sugar is
mixed with wheat flour how do you separate them?
Ans. Yes, it is possible to separate sugar crystals mixed with
wheat flour. We can separate them using a sieve. The wheat
flour will pass through the sieve while the sugar crystals will
remain on the sieve.
If powdered sugar is mixed with wheat flour, we cannot
separate them.
2. Why do hand picking necessary after winnowing?
 Ans. After winnowing, hand picking is necessary
because the grains contain some strands of straw,
husk, and stones.
3. Srikar accidentally mixed mustard seeds with rice and
salt. How can he separate them?
Ans.
First, we have to sieve the mixture. Salt will pass
through the sieve while the rice and mustard seeds
will remain.
Second, add water to rice and mustard seeds
mixture. Rice sinks and mustard seeds float. By
decantation, we can separate the mustard seeds from
rice.
Third, filter the solution through strainer. Rice
remains on the strainer.
4. Which separation process is used when a component
in a mixture
a) Heavier than the other?
Answer) Winnowing
b) Bigger than the other?
Answer) sieving
c) Different shape and colour for the other?
Ans) Handpicking
d) One is soluble in water and other is not?
Ans) filtration
e) One floats and one sinks in water?
 Ans) decantation .
5. Divya suggested some methods to separate mixture
given below. Are they correct? Find they are possible
or not. Give reasons.
A) pure water can be obtained from sea water by the
process of filtration.
B) Cheese is removed from curdled milk by the
process of decantation.
C) Separation of sugar from tea can be done by
filtration.
Answers
a) Pure water can be obtained from sea water from
the process of distillation.
b) Cheese is removed from curdled milk using
churning process.
c) It is not possible to separate sugar from tea.