Element, Compound and Mixture

Element, Compound or Mixture:

Pure Substance vs Mixture

- Pure substance: 
• Contains only one substance, with no other substances mixed together
• Has fixed melting and boiling point as they consist of only one substance so all molecules
will have the same melting and boiling points
• E.g. Water has a boiling point of  100°C and a melting point of 0°C
- Mixture: 
• A combination of two or more substances (elements and/or compounds) that are not
chemically joined together
• Has a range of melting and boiling points as they consist of different substances that melt
or boil at different temperatures
- Testing purity:
• The physical property of boiling/melting point can therefore be used to test if a substance
is pure or not.
• For example, if a sample of water melts at exactly 0°C and boils at exactly 100°C then the
water is pure.
• If the melting and boiling points of the water aren’t these exact values then the water must
be impure and contain other substances i.e. it must be a mixture.
Separation Techniques

- Simple Distillation:
Use: To separate a liquid and soluble solid from
a solution (e.g. water from a solution of salt
water)
- Explanation:
• Solution is heated and water vapour will
rise and evaporate
• Water vapour will pass through the
condenser, where it cools and condenses,
turning into a liquid that will be collected in
a beaker
• After all the water is evaporated from the solution, the solute will be left behind

- Fractional Distillation

Use: To separate two or more liquids that are miscible with one another (e.g. ethanol and water
from a mixture of the two)
- Explanation:
• Solution is heated at temperature of
substance with the lowest boiling point
• This substance will rise and evaporate, and
vapours will pass through a condenser, where it
cools and condenses, turning into a liquid that
will be collected in a beaker
• All of this substance is evaporated and collected,
leaving behind a mixture or  a substance
• For water and ethanol: Ethanol has a boiling
point of 78°C and water of 100°C. The mixture is
heated until it reaches 78°C, the ethanol boils
and distils out of the mixture and condenses into
the beaker. When temperature starts to increase to 100°C heating should be stopped.
Water and ethanol are separated.
- Filtration:

Use: To separate an undissolved solid from a mixture

of the solid and a liquid / solution (e.g. sand from a
mixture of sand and water)
Explanation:
• Filter paper is placed in a filter funnel above
another beaker
• Mixture of insoluble solid and liquid is poured
into the filter funnel
• Filter paper will only allow small liquid particles
to pass through as the filtrate
• Solid particles are too large to pass through the
 filter paper so will stay behind as a residue
- Crystallisation:

Use: To separate a dissolved solid from a solution,

when the solid is much more soluble in hot solvent than
in cold (e.g. copper sulphate from a solution of copper
(ii) sulphate in water)
- Explanation:
• Solution is heated, allowing the solvent to
evaporate to leave a saturated solution. Test the
solution is saturated by dipping a clean, dry, cold
glass rod into the solution. If the solution is
saturated, crystals will form in the glass rod.
• Saturated solution is allowed to cool and solids
will come out of the solution, as the solubility
increases, and crystals will grow
• Crystals are collected by filtering the solution. Then the crystals are washed with cold,
distilled water to remove impurity. Dry the crystals.

- Paper Chromatography:

Use: To separate substances that have different solubilities in a given solvent (e.g. different
coloured inks that have been mixed to make black ink)
- Explanation:
• Pencil line is drawn on chromatography paper and spots of ink / dye is placed on it.
• Paper is lowered into a bucket of solvent, allowing the solvent to travel up the paper,
taking some of the coloured substances with it.
• Different substances will have different solubilities so will travel at different rates, causing
the substances to spread apart. Those with higher solubility will spread more than the
others.
• This will show the different components of the ink / dye.
 Composition of a mixture:

Chromatography paper is taken. A sample (unknown) is placed along the pencil line. Other
known elements are placed beside the sample along the same line.
• Chromatograms will show the composition of a mixture as the different coloured
substances (components) will spread apart as they will have different solubilities so will
travel at different rates
• A pure substance will only produce one spot on the chromatogram during paper
chromatography
• In the diagram shown, red, blue and yellow are
three pure substances, whilst the sample on the
left is a mixture of all three

Rf Values to Identify Mixture Components:

Retardation factor (Rf) values: Used to identify the

components of mixtures
• The Rf value of a particular compound is always
the same
• Calculating the Rf value allows chemists to
identify unknown substances because it can be
compared with Rf values of known substances under the same conditions.
Equation:
Rf value =     distance moved by compound    ÷     distance moved by solvent

Practical:

Use: To separate substances that have different solubilities in a given solvent (e.g different
coloured inks that have been mixed to make
black ink).

Method:
• Pencil line is drawn on chromatography
paper and spots of ink / dye is placed on
it.
• Paper is lowered into a bucket of solvent,
allowing the solvent to travel up the
paper, taking some of the coloured
substances with it.
• Allow chromatography to occur until the
solvent reaches the top of the paper.
Results:
• As the solvent travels up the paper, different substances will have different solubilities so
will travel at different rates, causing the substances to spread apart.