Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Chemistry-Separation Techniques


Simple distillation
Distillation involves two stages and both are physical state change.
Stage (1): The liquid or solution mixture is boiled to vaporise the most volatile component in the moisture. (liquid --> gas)
Stage (2): The vapour is cooled by water in the Liebig condenser to condense (gas --> liquid) it back to a liquid (the distillate) which is collected.

Crystallisation
-Crystallisation from solution is the most common method used to purify soluble solids.
-The seeding method allows you to grow a large single crystal, others allow you to grow many crystals at a time.
-By controlling the variables such as cooling rate and evaporation rate, the size and shape of the crystals can be controlled.
-Crystallisation is used to purify crystals and substances that decompose upon strong heating.

Decanting
Decanting is the process of pouring off a liquid leaving the precipitate(sediments) at the bottom of the container.
e.g. sugar solution
Decanting is used to separate a dense, insoluble solid from a liquid.

Filtration
-Filtration is used to separate a mixture of a solid and a liquid.
-Upon filtration, the solid that remains on the filter paper is called the residue. The liquid that passes through the filter paper is called the filtrate.
-Filtration can be used to separate two solids if only one of them is soluble in solvent.
-A magnet can be used to separate magnetic substances, from non-magnetic ones.
-Sublimation is used to separate a substance that sublimes from one with a high melting point.

Extra information
1. Substances that do not decompose on strong heating can be purified by evaporation to dryness.
2. A saturated solution can be produced by evaporation.

Chemistry-Elements, Compounds and mixtures

Element- An element is a substance that cannot be split into two or more simpler substances by chemical reaction. Elements are thus the simplest form of matter.

Compound- A substance made up of two or more substances chemically combined together. For example, water is made up of hydrogen(H) and oxygen(O).

Mixture- A substance that is made up of two or more substances that are not chemically combined together. The substances that make up the mixture may be elements, compounds or both. The substances may be solid, liquid or gas etc.