Sunday, October 17, 2010

Oct 17--Separation Techniques

Separating Mixture



How do you separate different components in a mixture?
- by discriminating between components with different properties.

l        high / low density
l        volatile / nonvolatile
l        reactive/ inert
l        soluble / insoluble
l        magnetic / non magnetic

Note: Separation works because components in a mixture retain their identities. However, it would be more difficult to separate if the properties are similar.


²       Filtration: select components by particle size
²       Floatation: select components by density
²       Crystallization and Extraction: select components by solubility
²       Distillation: select components by boiling point
²       Chromatography: select components by



Hand Separation (solids + solids)
- a mechanical mixture or heterogeneous mixture
- can be separated by using a magnet or sieve


Evaporation (solid dissolved in liquid solution)
- boil until the liquid evaporates
- solid part remains


Filtration [solids(not dissolved) and liquids]
- separate by passing the mixture through a porous filter
- use filter paper, the residue is left in the paper while filtrate goes through


Cystallization (solid in liquid)
- precipitation is the conversion of a solute to solid form by physical or   chemical change
-solid separated by 1. filtration
            2. floatation
-saturated solution of a desired solid
-solid come out as pure crystals, then crystals are separated from the remaining  solvent by filtration

Gravity separation
-solid based on different density
-a centrifuge whirls the test tube around at  high speed, which forces the denser  materials to the bottom
*small volumes works better

Solvent extration
-a component moves into a solvent shaken with the mixture
-solvents that dissolve only one component works better

-mechanical mixture (solid in solid) : use liquid to dissolve one solid , then you get the other one
-solution: solvent dissolves one and leaves unwanted solid behind

Distillation (liquid in liquid)
- heating cause low-boiling component to vaporize first
-collecting and condensing  volatilized component 
(Vapour ascents to distillation flask and enters condenser)

Chromatography
-The material of the mixture retains some components, different components flow over the material have different speeds.
- A mobile phase sweeps the sample over a stationary phase.
-This can separate very complex mixtures and  form of separation uses very small sample sizes and analysis is highly accurate and precise.


Sheet Chromatography
Paper Chromatography  (PC) :
-Stationary phase (absorbent) is a liquid soaked into a stripe of paper, mobile phase is a liquid solvent.
-different components move at a different speeds. Some components spend more time in the stationary phase. The components appear as separated spots on the paper.


Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) :
-stationary phase (ex. Al2O3, SiO2) is a thin layer of absorbent.
-some components bond to the absorbent strongly, some weakly. ( the speeds of the components)

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