Chemistry

Separation techniques and Atomic

Structure
 Separation techniques
• Most of the time the substances that we see around
us are not in their pure form. They are basically a
mixture of two or more substances. Interestingly,
mixtures tend to also come in different forms.
Therefore, there are several types of separation
techniques that are used in segregating a mixture of
substances. As for the need for separation, it is
usually done to remove all the unwanted materials
and obtain useful components.
 Common methods of separation
• Some of the common methods of separating
mixtures are:
• Evaporation
• Distillation
• Filtration or Sedimentation
• Separating Funnel
 Evapouration
• Evaporation is a technique that is used in
separating a mixture usually a solution of a
solvent and a soluble solid. In this method, the
solution is heated until the organic
solvent evaporates where it turns into a gas
and mostly leaves behind the solid residue.
 Distillation
• When mixtures consist of two or more pure
liquids than distillation is used. Here the
components of a liquid mixture are vaporized,
condensed and then isolated. The mixture is
heated and the component which is volatile
vaporizes first. The vapor moves through a
condenser and is collected in a liquid state.
Distillation process
 Filtration
• The most common method of separating a
liquid from an insoluble solid is the filtration.
Take, for example, the mixture of sand and
water. Filtration is used here to remove solid
particles from the liquid. Various filtering
agents are normally used like filtering paper or
other materials.
Filtration
 Sedimentation
• Sedimentation is a process by which heavier
impurities present in liquid normally water
settle down at the bottom of the container
containing the mixture. The process takes
some amount of time.
 Separating funnel
• Separating funnel is used mainly to segregate
two immiscible liquids. The mechanism
involves taking advantage of the unequal
density of the particles in the mixture. Oil and
water can be easily separated using this
technique.
 Assignment
• Research the extraction of Sucrose from Sugar
cane.
 Atomic structure
• Atomic structure refers to the structure of
atom comprising a nucleus (center) in which
the protons (positively charged)
and neutrons (neutral) are present. The
negatively charged particles
called electrons revolve around the center of
the nucleus.
 What is the Atomic structure?
• The atomic structure of an element refers to the constitution of its
nucleus and the arrangement of the electrons around it. Primarily, the
atomic structure of matter is made up of protons, electrons and neutrons.
• The protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of the atom, which is
surrounded by the electrons belonging to the atom. The atomic
number of an element describes the total number of protons in its
nucleus.
• Neutral atoms have equal numbers of protons and electrons. However,
atoms may gain or lose electrons in order to increase their stability and
the resulting charged entity is called an ion.
• Atoms of different elements have different atomic structures because
they contain different numbers of protons and electrons. This is the
reason for the unique characteristics of different elements.
 Protons
• Protons are positively charged subatomic particles.
The charge of a proton is 1e, which corresponds to
approximately 1.602 × 10-19
• The mass of a proton is approximately 1.672 × 10-24
• Protons are over 1800 times heavier than
electrons.
• The total number of protons in the atoms of an
element is always equal to the atomic number of
the element.
 Neutrons
• The mass of a neutron is almost the same as
that of a proton i.e. 1.674×10-24
• Neutrons are electrically neutral particles and
carry no charge.
• Different isotopes of an element have the
same number of protons but vary in the
number of neutrons present in their
respective nuclei.
 Electrons
• The charge of an electron is -1e, which
approximates to -1.602 × 10-19
• The mass of an electron is approximately 9.1 ×
10-31.
• Due to the relatively negligible mass of
electrons, they are ignored when calculating
the mass of an atom.
 Atomic number
• As you know, an atom consists of electrons,
protons and neutrons. The number of
electrons in the outermost shell gives us the
valency of the atom. Similarly, the number of
protons and neutrons are associated with the
atomic number and mass number of the atom.
 Contin’d
• The total number of protons in the nucleus of an atom
gives us the atomic number of that atom.
• It is represented with the letter ‘Z.’
• All the atoms of a particular element have the same
number of protons, and hence the same atomic number.
• Atoms of different elements have different atomic
numbers.
• For example, all carbon atoms have the atomic number
of 6, whereas all atoms of Oxygen have 8 protons in
their nucleus.
 Mass number
• The number of protons and neutrons combined to give us the mass
number of an atom.
• It is represented using the letter ‘A.’
• As both protons and neutrons are present in the nucleus of an
atom, they are together called nucleons.
• For example, an atom of carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons.
Thus, its mass number is 12.
• While the number of protons remains the same in all atoms of an
element, the number of neutrons can vary. Thus, atoms of the
same element can have different mass numbers, and these are
called isotopes.
• The weight of an electron is almost negligible. Thus, the atomic
mass of an atom is almost the same as its mass number.
Notation of an atom
Example of carbon atom
 Relative atomic mass
• The relative atomic mass of an element is
defined as the weight in grams of the number
of atoms of the element contained in 12.00 g
of carbon-12 or (6.022×1023 mol-1 )- Avogadros
constant
 Isotopes
• Nucleons are the components of the nucleus of an atom.
A nucleon can either be a proton or a neutron. Each
element has a unique number of protons in it, which is
described by its unique atomic number. However, several
atomic structures of an element can exist, which differ in
the total number of nucleons.
• These variants of elements having a different nucleon
number (also known as the mass number) are called
isotopes of the element. Therefore, the isotopes of an
element have the same number of protons but differ in
the number of neutrons.
 Radioactive isotopes
• These are radioactive isotopes, since they
have an unstable atomic nucleus (due to the
balance between neutrons and protons) and
emit energy and particles when it changes to a
more stable form. The energy liberated in the
form change can be measured with a Geiger
counter, or with photographic film.
 Radio isotopes
• Each radioisotope has a characteristic disintegration or
semi-life period. Energy may be liberated mostly in the
form of alpha (helium nuclei), beta, (electrons
or positrons), or gamma (electromagnetic energy) rays.
• Several unstable and artificial radioactive isotopes have
medical uses. For instance, a technetium isotope (99mTc)
may be used to identify blocked blood vessels. Various
natural radioactive isotopes are used to determine
chronologies, such as the archeological kind (14C).
 Applications of Radioisotopes
• Medicine: Diagnosis and treatment of
diseases, sterilization of products frequently
used in clinical and surgical environments, etc.
• Industry and technology: review of materials
and welding in construction, control of
productive processes, research, etc.
 Applications of Radioisotopes
• Agriculture: Plague control, food conservation,
etc.
• Art: restoration of art objects, verification of
historic or artistic objects, etc.
• Archeology: Geological event dating, etc.
• Research: Universe, industry, medicine, etc.
• Pharmacology: The study of the metabolism of
drugs before they are authorized for public use.
 Assignment 2
• Give the name of at least one isotope use in
each application.