CHEMISTRY LAB

HOMEWORK

Separating mixture

Introduction

Usually the substances around us are not pure substances. Mostly, they are a mixture that consist of two or

more substances and come in different forms. Sometimes, it can be necessary to separate the components

of a mixture in order to use them for our needs. In this case it is important to choose the correct method of

mixture separation technique. The correct choice of separating technique based on the differences in

physical properties of the components of a mixture.

In this assignment you will prepare the mixture and then separate the components of this mixture by

choosing the most appropriate method of separation.

Materials

 Sand (4 teaspoons or 24 grams)  bowl

1 teaspoon sand = 6 grams

 Sugar (2 tablespoons or 25 grams)  Tablespoon and teaspoon or balance

1 tablespoon sugar =12.5g

 Small kidney beans (3 tablespoons or 34

grams) 1 tablespoon beans = 11.3 g

Procedure

Measure the amounts of sand, sugar and kidney beans as shown above and mix them in a bowl.

Considering the physical properties of mixture components choose the most appropriate method to

separate them into pure substances.

While doing the experiment take a photo of your work and add them to report form. Notice that the photos

are mandatory in order to prove that the task is really completed.

 HOMEWORK

Separating mixture

Report form

Name _______________________________ ID _____________________

1. Mass of a sand: 12.0 g.

Mass of sugar: 25.0 g.

Mass of kidney beans 33.9 g.

Total mass of a mixture 12 + 25 + 33.9 = 70.9 g.

Note: if you used spoons (not a balance) show the masses as they are given in Materials section.

2. Describe the procedure how did you separate the components of the mixture.

Having mixed the weighed amounts of sugar, sand, and kidney beans, I placed the mixture in a

sieve. I chose the sieve with size of pores that will pass sugar and sand but not the kidney beans.

The sieve is located above appropriately sized beaker, I chose both of the sieve and the beaker

with same diameter so the ingredients of the mixture will not be lost. After sieving the mixture

until kidney beans left alone in the sieve, and the mixture of sugar and sand are located in the

beaker, I poured warm water above the kidney beans to wash any remaining sand or sugar. The

water was hot enough to dissolve the sugar and I obtained separated kidney beans and a solution

of sand and dissolved sugar in water. After putting the separated kidney beans for further work, I

placed a filter paper in a funnel of glass and inserted them both into a glass conical flask of proper

size. I gently poured the mixture of sand and dissolved sugar. Then I added some hot water to the
 mixture beaker to make sure no ingredients were left in it. The result was a filter paper filled with

sand, which will not dissolve in hot water and a solution of water and sugar in the conical flask. I

poured the solution into a crucible and exposed the solution to heat generated by a Bunsen burner

until all water was evaporated and chunks of sugar left in the crucible.

Answer the following questions.

1. What technique did you use to separate beans from sand and sugar?

Sieving.

2. What technique did you use to separate sand from the mixture?

Filtration.

3. What technique did you use to separate sugar from the mixture?

Evaporation.

4. Explain why did you choose these techniques to separate the components of the mixture.

 I chose sieving to separate kidney beans because it is the easiest method to separate solid

particles of different size.

 In terms of sand, filtration was the proper method not sieving due to the similarity in size

between sand and sugar particles.

 I chose evaporation to separate sugar from water because the water boils at 1000 C while sugar

does not, and because the purpose of the experiment was just to practice separation methods,

otherwise, I would have used distillation to retrieve pure crystals of sugar not charred sugar.
5. What are the mass percent of each component of a mixture? Show your calculations.

Component
Calculations %
of a mixture

Sand 12/( 12 + 25 + 33.9) = 12/70.9 16.9%

Sugar 25/(12 + 25 + 33.9) = 25/70.9 35.26%

Beans 33.9/(12 + 25 + 33.9) = 33.9/70.9 47.81%

6. What technique would you use to separate sand from water? There are two possibilities.

A mixture of only sand and water can be separated by either filtration or evaporation.

7. Do you think the final masses of mixture components you obtained after separation are the same as

the masses you mixed in the beginning (24 g sand, 25 g sugar and 35 g beans)? Why?

No, because high temperature was applied in the last step of the experiment, which means loss of

some materials will occur due to the high temperature.

8. Give one example from your daily life where you use mixture separation techniques.

We often use filtration, it is necessary to help us separate water from pasta for example.