ACTIVITY 6

SEPARATION OF MIXTURES

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the experiment the students should be able to
1. To use different physical separation methods for different types of mixtures.
2. To show advantages of one separation method over another method.

BACKGROUND
Separation of mixtures can be achieved by simple physical means since there is no chemical
reaction between or among the components.

MATERIALS:
Watch glass
Pasteur pipette Copper sieves
Wire gauze Evaporating dish
Bunsen burner Tripod
Test tube / rack Iron ring and stand
G. cylinder, 10 mL, 25 mL Separatory funnel
Beaker, 150 mL Funnel
Magnet Filter Paper
Black sand Salt
Cooking oil Benzoic Acid Crystals
Napththalein Mixture of mongo and sand

PROCEDURE:
I. Separation of Solid Mixtures
A. Use of Magnet:
Place a magnet over a mixture of black sand on a watch glass. Observe what happens
as the magnet is placed closer to the sand. Can you identify what sticks to the magnet?
What remains in the watch glass? What property must one component have to enable
the application of this separation method to other mixtures?
 Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMwJsIJGdEU

B. Use of Sieves
Place the mixture of mongo and sand in the sieve. Shake the sieve until the corn and
sand separate. What goes through and what is retained in the sieve? What is the
property of these solids that allows it to be separated using sieves?
 Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt2OZsuL2vQ

C. Sublimation
Place a mixture of benzoic acid and table salt (1:1) in an evaporating dish. Place an
inverted funnel over the top of the evaporating dish. Make sure the wider end of the
funnel fits the mouth of the evaporating dish. (Do not remove this inverted funnel
during the heating process). Place the evaporating dish on a wire gauze on top of a
tripod. Use a Bunsen burner to heat the mixture in the evaporating dish. Observe what
forms on the inner walls of the funnel during heating. What remained in the evaporating
dish? What property of a substance allows it to be separated from other solids using
sublimation?
 Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G6cFXtbwNo

II. Separation of Solids from Liquids

A. Filtration
Dissolve the mixture of sand and table salt in 100 mL of tap water. Can you still see the
table salt? Can you still see the sand?

Pour the solution into a funnel with a folded filter paper with the stem placed into a 150
mL Erlenmeyer flask.
The solution which passes through the filter is called the filtrate. The substance left on
the filter paper is called the residue. Identify which is the filtrate and which is the
residue. (Save the filtrate for B). What property of the sand allows it to be separated from
the salt and vice versa in this exercise?

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  Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKH-x3kwyxQ

B. Evaporation
Place on the tripod a wire gauze and small evaporating dish or casserole. Pour the
filtrate (from Procedure A) into the evaporating dish. Place a Bunsen burner under the
wire gauze, light it and heat the liquid until it boils and then, lower the heat. Stop the
heating when only 2 – 3 mL of liquid remains. What remained in the evaporating dish
after heating? What happened to the liquid? What property/ies does salt or water have
that allows the separation?
 Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppMdfnt80NE

C. Distillation
Ask help from the instructor in the set-up of a simple distillation apparatus. Place 150 mL
of sea water (or 35% NaCl Solution) into the distilling flask together with a few pieces of
broken porcelain or glass beads. Use water as coolant for the distillation. Heat using a
Burner flame. When the liquid boils, note the temperature. When the first distillate drops
into the receiver, note the temperature. Remove and replace the receiver when the
temperature starts to increase. What property of liquids can be used in their separation
using distillation?
 Watch the video using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUabxsvfuPk

III. Separation of Liquids

When two liquids do not mix together, they must of opposite polarity and we call them
immiscible liquids. They can be observed as exhibiting two phases within the same
container but with the liquid of lighter density on top and the heavier one at the bottom.
These types of mixtures can be separated through the following:

A. Use of Separatory Funnel

Place a mixture of two immiscible liquids: 10 mL water and 10 mL cooking oil or gasoline
into a separatory funnel and cover. Shake the mixture using both hands, with one hand
holding the top cover the other hand at the neck between the body of the flask and
stopcock for about 30 sec. then allow to settle. The mixture then separates into two
layers. Remove the lower layer by opening the stopcock to release the lower layer into a
prepared Erlenmeyer flask or test tube. The remaining layer may be transferred to
another container. Which liquid occupied the upper layer? Which liquid is denser? Refer
to Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry for the density values.
 Watch the video using the link https://youtu.be/Wm6BMxrup2Q

B. Decantation
Re-mix the oil and water mixture used in A in a narrow mouth beaker, shake, then allow
to settle till two layers are formed. Tilt the beaker slowly so that the upper layer is poured
to another container and at the same time retain the lower layer in the beaker.
 Watch the video using the link https://youtu.be/fOlC1nYHu1E

C. Use of Pasteur Pipette

Using a mixture of liquid, place them in a vial. As the mixture settles into two layers, dip
the tip of the Pasteur pipette deep enough into the upper liquid layer. This may be done
a couple of times until all the upper liquid layer has been removed from the test tube.
This exercise is proved useful especially in qualitative analysis.
Which of the three methods do you believe is most applicable for small volumes of liquid
mixtures? For large volumes of liquid mixtures?
 Watch the video using the link ttps://youtu.be/q3OpGMOL6GQ

REFERENCES

Grino,Y.A. and Hebia,B.P(2011). Laboratory Manual in Inorganic Chemistry

Henrickson et.al. (2018). A Laboratory of General, Organic and Biochemistry.4th ed.
Spencer, L.S. et.al. (2018)Saftety Scale laboratory experiments for Chemistry for Today. 9th ed.
Vicent,G.V,(2010).Laboratory Manual in Inorganic and Organic Chemistry.

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