Mixtures and Separation Techniques Practice

Q1.
Russell put ground-up coffee beans in a coffee maker and added hot water.

He pushed the plunger down.

This separated the coffee drink from the ground-up coffee beans.

(a) How could Russell see that some coffee had dissolved in the water?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) The end of the plunger is a circle of wire mesh.

(i) Which mesh would be best to separate the coffee drink from all the ground-up
coffee beans? Write the letter.

.......................
1 mark

(ii) This method of making coffee uses a type of filter.

The apparatus used for filtration in a school laboratory is drawn below.

Which part of the apparatus above works in the same way as the wire mesh?

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 Write the letter.

.......................
1 mark

(c) Russell wanted to separate the water from the coffee drink.
He set up the apparatus shown below.

(i) Why did Russell put ice cubes around the glass tube?

.............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) Choose words from the box below to fill the gaps in the following sentences.

an acid a gas a liquid a solid

condensation crystallisation evaporation filtration

Russell heats the water. Water in the drink changes from

............................................ into ............................................ .

This change of state is called ............................................ .

Water vapour changes into liquid. This change of state is called

............................................ .
4 marks
maximum 8 marks

Q2.

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Lavender oil is a perfume obtained from lavender flowers.
Steam at 100°C is passed through the flowers in the apparatus below.

not to scale

Water vapour and lavender oil vapour pass down a copper tube towards a separator.

(a) (i) The lavender flowers are heated in a container with a sealed lid.

Why must the lid be sealed?

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) What would happen if the container did not have a pressure-release valve?

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Lavender oil vapour and water vapour cool as they pass down the copper tube.
A mixture of lavender oil and water collects in the separator.

(i) What is the change in the physical state of both lavender oil vapour
and water vapour as they cool?

from .................................. to ..................................

1 mark

(ii) Look at the separator.

How does this show that the water is denser than lavender oil?

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

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(c) Rosie poured some lavender oil into an oil burner.
She heated it with a candle.

The oil changed state.

Which diagram represents this change of state?

Write the letter.

..............
1 mark
maximum 5 marks

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Q3.
Gary wanted to find out if some food colourings contained a banned food dye.

He put a drop of each food colouring and the banned food dye onto some special
paper.
He hung the paper in a beaker of water.

After 10 minutes, the banned food dye and some of the dyes from the food colourings
had moved up the paper.
Gary’s results are shown below.

(a) Gary wrote the labels on the paper in pencil.

Why should he not write them in ink?

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

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 1 mark

(b) Look at Gary’s results.

The different dyes in some of the food colourings had moved up the paper.

(i) Which food colouring contained the banned food dye?

..................................................
1 mark

(ii) Which food colouring contained the most dyes?

..................................................
1 mark

(c) Which food colouring did not dissolve in the water?

...........................................................
1 mark

(d) Which method did Gary use to separate the dyes?

Tick the correct box.

chromatography distillation

evaporation filtration
1 mark
maximum 5 marks

Q4.
Chris collected some sea water near a beach.
The sea water had salt dissolved in it. It had sand mixed in it.

(a) Chris separated the sand from the salt water as shown below.

(i) What is this method of separation called?

Tick the correct box.

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 chromatography distillation

filtration magnetism

(ii) What is substance A?

......................................................

(iii) What is the part labelled B?

......................................................
3 marks

(b) Chris poured some of the salt water from the flask into a dish.
He put the dish on a balance and left it in a warm room for a week.

(i) Look at the two readings on the balance.

Work out the decrease in mass.

............... g

(ii) After one week there was a white solid but no liquid in the dish.
What had happened to the water in the dish?

.............................................................................................................

(iii) What was the white solid left in the dish?

......................................................
3 marks
maximum 6 marks

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Q5.
Susie used chromatography to identify the coloured substances in the ink from a
felt-tip pen.

She used:

• green ink

• blue ink

• purple ink

• ink from her felt-tip pen.

She used water as the solvent.

Look at the diagram above.

(a) (i) Which colours were present in the ink from the felt-tip pen?

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(ii) How many coloured substances were there in green ink?

...........

How can you tell?

...............................................................................................................

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 ...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(iii) Susie placed the spots of ink on a line on the chromatography paper as
shown in the diagram.
To draw the line, Susie had to choose a felt-tip pen or a pencil.

Which one should she use?

.............................................................

Give the reason for your answer.

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Susie used water as the solvent in this experiment.

When she repeated the experiment with a different set of pens, it did
not work.
She then used ethanol instead of water.

Suggest why the experiment worked with ethanol but not with water.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
1 mark
maximum 4 marks

Q6.
(a) Amy’s family are at the beach during the summer.
Amy and her sister have a bucket containing seawater and sand.

Read the following statements.

Which are true and which are false?

Tick one box for each statement.

true false

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 Water is a solvent for salt.

Sand sinks in water because water is more dense than sand.

When a solid dissolves in water, the solid is called a solute.

2 marks

(b) Seawater contains dissolved salt.

Describe what Amy can do to separate and collect pure water from seawater.

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................
2 marks

(c) Draw a line from each of the substances below to the group that it belongs to.
Draw only three lines.

Draw a line from each group to the correct description.

Draw only three lines.

2 marks
maximum 6 marks

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Q7.
Simon added some salt to 100 cm3 of cold water in a beaker.
He stirred the water to dissolve the salt. He added more salt until no more would dissolve.
He repeated his experiment with sugar, baking powder and instant coffee powder.
Each time, he used a different beaker containing 100 cm3 of cold water.

He drew a bar chart of his results.

(a) Describe two ways in which Simon made this experiment a fair test.

1. ..................................................................................................................

2. ..................................................................................................................
2 marks

(b) Which one of the four solids was most soluble in water?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) How could Simon make more salt dissolve in 100 cm3 of water?

......................................................................................................................
1 mark
Maximum 4 marks

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Mark schemes

Q1.
(a) any one from

• the colour had changed

• the water was brown or darker or grey

accept ‘the colour’
do not accept ‘the coffee disappeared’
1 (L3)

(b) (i) • D
1 (L3)

(ii) • P
accept ‘the filter paper’
‘the filter’ is insufficient
accept ‘the paper’
1 (L3)

(c) (i) any one from

• to cool the water vapour

accept ‘to cool the steam or gas’

• to condense the water vapour

accept ‘to condense the steam or gas’

• change gas or vapour back to water

accept ‘to cool it or the glass tube’
do not accept references to liquid coffee condensing
1 (L3)

(ii) • from a liquid into a gas

2 (L4)

• evaporation
1 (L4)

• condensation
1 (L4)
award one mark for each correct word in the correct place
[8]

Q2.
(a) (i) any one from

• to stop water vapour or steam escaping

accept ‘gas or vapour or particles could escape’
‘to stop water escaping or spilling out’ is insufficient

• to stop lavender oil vapour escaping

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 accept ‘to stop oil escaping’
accept ‘to make sure the oil goes down the tube’
accept ‘the oil or vapours could not be collected’
‘to stop the smell escaping’ is insufficient

• to reduce heat loss

accept ‘to stop heat loss’ or ‘to keep heat in’
accept ‘to stop the heat escaping’
accept ‘to maintain the pressure’
1 (L5)

(ii) any one from

• it could explode

• it could break
accept ‘the lid might come off’
accept ‘so the pressure does not break the seal’
‘the pressure would be too high’ is insufficient
‘it would get too hot’ is insufficient
1 (L5)

(b) (i) • from gas to liquid

both answers are required for the mark
answers must be in the correct order
1 (L5)

(ii) any one from

• it sinks
accept ‘lavender oil floats’

• it is at the bottom
accept ‘the oil is on the top’
‘they are not mixed’ is insufficient
1 (L6)

(c) • B
if more than one letter is identified, award no mark
1 (L6)
[5]

Q3.
(a) any one from

• ink dissolves in water

• ink would smudge or run or move up the filter paper

• pencil does not dissolve in water

accept ‘ink dissolves’
accept ‘ink expands’
accept ‘pencil does not smudge’
1 (L4)

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 (b) (i) • yellow
1 (L4)

(ii) • brown
1 (L4)

(c) • red
1 (L4)

(d) • chromatography
if more than one box is ticked, award no mark
1 (L3)
[5]

Q4.
(a) (i) • filtration
if more than one box is ticked, award no mark
1 (L3)

(ii) • A: sand
accept ‘residue’
1 (L3)

(iii) • B: filter paper

accept ‘paper’ or ‘filter’
do not accept ‘funnel’ or ‘filter funnel’
1 (L4)

(b) (i) • 100

1 (L4)

(ii) it had evaporated

accept’ it went into the air’
do not accept ‘it disappeared’
1 (L3)

(iii) salt
accept ‘sodium chloride’
accept ‘salts’ or ‘minerals’ or ‘crystals’
1 (L4)
[6]

Q5.
(a) (i) pale blue yellow red
answers may be in any order
all three answers are required for the mark
do not accept ‘blue’ for ‘pale blue’
1 (L5)

(ii) 2
because there are two spots on the paper
accept ‘there are two colours from the green ink’
accept ‘because they are straight up from the green ink’
accept ‘it has dark blue and yellow’

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 accept ‘it shows two’
both the answer and the correct explanation are required
for the mark
1 (L5)

(iii) pencil
both the answer and the correct explanation are
required for the mark

any one from

• because ink from the felt-tip pen is soluble or

will dissolve in water
accept ‘the ink will also produce colours’
‘the pencil has no ink in it’ is insufficient

• because pencil will not spread out or dissolve or run

or smudge
accept ‘the ink expands’
1 (L5)

(b) any one from

• the ink would not dissolve in water

accept ‘the ink was water resistant or
permanent or waterproof’

• the ink would dissolve in ethanol

• ethanol is a solvent for the ink

accept ‘ethanol is a suitable solvent’
accept ‘ethanol can absorb the ink’
accept ‘ethanol washes out the ink’
accept ‘some substances will dissolve
in one solvent but not another’
1 (L6)
[4]

Q6.
(a) • true false

for all three correct boxes ticked, award two marks

for any two correct, award one mark
2 (L6)

(b) • evaporate the water or evaporation

accept ‘heat it’
accept ‘it goes from liquid to gas’
accept ‘boiling’
do not accept an incorrect use of evaporation,
e.g. ‘she evaporates salt from sand’

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 1 (L5)

• condense the water vapour or condensation

accept ‘it goes from gas to liquid’
do not accept ‘it condenses to water vapour’
1 (L5)
accept, for two marks, ‘distil or distillation’
accept, for one mark, ‘condensation then evaporation’

(c)

all three lines are required for one mark

if more than one line goes from any one box,
do not award the mark
1 (L5)

all three lines are required for one mark

if more than one line goes from any one box,
do not award the mark
1 (L6)
[6]

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Q7.
(a) same volume of water
accept ‘same amount of water’
1

same temperature
accept ‘he used cold water each time’
accept ‘stirred for the same length of time’
1

(b) sugar
1

(c) raise the temperature

accept ‘heat it’ or ‘use hot water’
do not accept ‘add hot water’
1
[4]

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