SEPARATING SUBSTANCES

▪ Mixtures, solutions, and solvents

▪ Pure substances and impurities
▪ Separation methods Part I
▪ Separation Methods Part II
▪ Paper Chromatography
Mixture, Solution and Solvents
 Mixture

▪ A mixture contains more than one substance.

▪ They just mixed together and not chemically combined.

For example:
✓ Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and small amount of
other gases.
✓ Shampoo is a mixture of several chemical and water.
 Mixture

Sugar
solution

Solute + Solvent = solution

Chalk powder
Not solution
Not everything dissolve easily
 Solvents

▪ Water is the world’s most common solvent.

▪ Solution in water is called an aqueous solution.
▪ All three of these solvents evaporate easily (volatile) at room
temperature.
▪ So, glue and paints dry easily.
▪ Aftershave feels cool because ethanol cools the skin when it
evaporates.
Nail polish is insoluble in water.
It can be removed later by dissolving it in
propanone.
 Volatile Liquids

▪ A volatile liquid is one that evaporates easily.

▪ The forces between its particles are weak.
▪ Volatile liquids have low boiling points too. (propanone boils
at 56.5◦C)
 Pure substances and Impurities

What is pure substances?

A pure substance has no other substance mixed with it.

In real life, very few substances are 100% pure.

Tap water is not pure ( calcium ion and

chloride ion)
Pure substances and Impurities

▪ Distilled water is much purer than tap

water, but still not 100% pure.
▪ It may contain particles of gases, dissolved
from the water.
Does purity matter?

Baby foods and milk powder are Vaccines and medicines must
tested in the factory, to make sure be safe, and free of harmful
they contain no harmful impurities. impurities. So they are tested
heavily
 How can tell if the substances is pure?

▪ Check the melting point and boiling point.

▪ Pure substance has a definite, sharp, melting and boiling point.
▪ When a substance contains an impurity:
▪ Its melting point falls and its boiling point rises.
▪ It melts and boils over a range of temperature, not sharp.
▪ The more impurity there is:
▪ The bigger the change in melting and boiling points.
▪ The wider the temperature range over which melting and boiling occur.
This sulfur sample melts sharply at 119 This water freezes around - 0.5 °C and
°C and boils at 445 °C. So it must be pure boils around 101 °C. So it is not pure
 SEPARATION OF MIXTURES

▪ Separating mixtures is extremely important in chemistry.

▪ The processing of crude oil, in producing freshwater from
SEPARATION OF MIXTURES
saltwater and in the enrichment of uranium.
▪ In forensic science, the components of a mixture usually have to
be separated before they can be analyzed.
 Method of Separation of Mixtures
Method of Separation Used to separate

Filtration A solid from a liquid

Crystallization A solute from its solution

Simple Distillation Solvent from its solution

Fractional Distillation Liquid from each others

Paper Chromatography Different substances from a solution

Filtration
Filtration
 Crystallization
Step 1

Solution of copper (II) sulfate in water

 Crystallization
Step 2 Step 3

Heat the solution to evaporate some The solution becomes saturated.

of the water. If you cool down, crystals will
start to form.
Crystallization

Leave the solution to cool. Crystals start

to form in it, as the temperature falls.
 Crystallization

Remove the crystals by filtering. Then risen them with distilled water and dry them with
filter paper.
 Evaporation

Evaporating the ethanol from a solution of

Evaporating the water from a
sugar in ethanol, over a water bath
solution of salt in water
 Separating a mixture of two solid
▪ Add water to the mixture, and stir. The salt dissolves.
▪ Filter the mixture. The sand is trapped in the filter paper, but the
salt solution pass through.
▪ Risen the sand with water, and dry it in an oven.
▪ Evaporate the water from the salt solution, to give dry salt.
 Separating a mixture of two solid

▪ Water could not be used to separate salt and sugar because it

dissolves both.
▪ But ethanol can be used .
▪ Sugar dissolve in ethanol but not salt.
▪ Ethanol is flammable, so should be evaporated over a water
bath.
▪ Rock salt consists of salt contaminated by various earthy or rocky
impurities.
▪ These impurities aren't soluble in water.
▪ If you crush the rock salt and mix it with hot water, the salt
dissolves, but the impurities don't.
▪ The impurities can be filtered off, and remain on the filter paper.

▪ The filtrate is then a salt solution. The solid salt can be obtained from the
solution by crystallisation.

▪ This is typical of the way you can separate any mixture of two solids, one
of which is soluble in water and one of which isn't.
 Simple Distillation
To obtain the solvent from the solution.
 Simple Distillation
▪ Heat the solution in the flask. As it boils, water vapour rises into
the condenser, leaving salt behind.
▪ The condenser is cold, so the vapour condenses to water in it.
▪ The water drips into the beaker. It is called distilled water. It is
almost pure.

Many countries in the Middle East obtain drinking water by distilling

seawater in giant distillation plants.
 Fractional Distillation
To separate a mixture of liquids from each other.

▪ Heat the mixture in the flask.

▪ At about 78◦C, the ethanol begins to boil.
▪ Some water evaporates too.
▪ So a mixture of ethanol and water vapours
rises up the column.
Fractional Distillation

▪ The vapors condense on the glass beads in

the column making them hot.
Fractional Distillation

▪ When the beads reach about 78C, ethanol

vapor no longer condenses on them.
▪ Only the water vapor does.
▪ Water drips back into the flask.
▪ The ethanol vapor goes into the condenser.
Fractional Distillation

▪ Pure liquid ethanol drips into the beaker.

▪ The thermometer reading rises above 78 ◦C
which mean that all the ethanol has gone.
▪ Can stop heating.
 Fractional Distillation in Industry

▪ To refine crude oil into petrol and other groups of compounds.

▪ The oil is heated and the vapours rise to different heights, up a tall steel
fractionating column
 Fractional Distillation in Industry

In producing ethanol.
▪ The ethanol is made by fermentation, using sugar cane or other plant
material.
▪ It is separated from the fermented mixture by fractional distillation.
▪ Ethanol is used as a solvent and as car fuel.
 Paper Chromatography
To separate a mixture of substance.
Paper Chromatography
 Paper Chromatography

The most soluble one travels fastest.

The dyes in the ink have different solubilities in water.

They travel across the paper at different rates.
 Paper Chromatography
Paper chromatography can be used to identify substances.

▪ Must use a pencil to draw the line on the chromatography paper.

▪ If you use a pen, the ink will run.
Paper Chromatography
 Paper Chromatography

▪ X has separated into three spots.

▪ Two are at the same heigh as A and B, so X must contain substances A
and B
 Paper Chromatography
How paper chromatography works.

The more soluble a substance is in the solvent, the further it will travel up
the chromatography paper.
 Paper Chromatography

Making use of paper chromatography

▪ Identify a substance
▪ Separate mixtures of substances
▪ Purify a substance, by separating it from its impurities.
Paper Chromatography
Paper Chromatography
 Paper Chromatography
Identify substances in a colorless mixture
▪ Place a spot of each solution along a line drawn in pencil on slotted
chromatography paper.
▪ Place a suitable solvent in the bottom of a beaker. ( for amino acids, a
mixture of water, ethanoic acid, and butanol is suitable)
▪ Roll the chromatography paper into a cylinder and place it in the beaker.
Cover the beaker.
 Paper Chromatography
▪ The solvent rises up the paper. When it has almost reached the top,
remove the paper.
▪ Mark a line in pencil on it, to show where the solvent reached. ( cannot
tell where the amino acid are, because they are colourless)
▪ Put the paper in a oven to dry out.
▪ Next spray it with a locating agent to make the amino acid show up. (
Ninhydrin is a good choice.
▪ After spraying , heat the paper in the oven for 10 minutes.
▪ The spots turns purple.
 Paper Chromatography
▪ Mark a pencil dot at the centre of each spot. Measure from the base line
to each dot, and to the line showing the final solvent level.

The Rf value of a compound is always the same for a given solvent,

under the same conditions.
Paper Chromatography

Need two phases:

▪ A non-moving or stationary phase, such as filter

paper.
▪ A moving or mobile phase ( mixture you want to
separate, dissolved in a solvent)
Chromatography and Crime Detection
Paper Chromatography
 Paper Chromatography
Chromatography can be used on a small scale in the lab, or on a very
large scale in industry.

Small scale used to

▪ Identify substances ( such as amino acid)
▪ Check the purity of substances
▪ Help in crime detection
▪ Identify pollutants in air, or in samples of river water.
 Paper Chromatography
Chromatography can be used on a small scale in the lab, or on a very
large scale in industry.

It is used on a large scale to

▪ Separate pure substances ( for making medical drugs or food flavorings)
from tanks of reaction mixture, in factories.
▪ Separate individual compounds from the group of compounds ( fraction)
obtained in refining petroleum.