Separating Mixtures

Question 1

Soluble

Answer 1

A material that is able to dissolve in a solvent.

Question 2

Insoluble

Answer 2

A material that is not able to dissolve in a solvent. It will remain suspended in the solvent as a suspension, or it will sink to the bottom as a sediment.

Question 3

Solute

Answer 3

The material that is dissolved in a liquid. It could be a solid, like coffee powder, it could be a liquid, like alcohol, or it could be a gas, like carbon dioxide.

Question 4

Solvent

Answer 4

The liquid that a solute is dissolved in to form a solution.

Question 5

Decanting

Answer 5

Decanting is a way of separating an insoluble substance that settles to the bottom forming a sediment. It is performed by carefully pouring the liquid down a stirring rod into a beaker leaving the sediment behind.

Question 6

Filtering

Answer 6

Filtering is a way of separating an insoluble suspension. It is performed by folding a filter paper in half and half again and opening it up with 3 pieces of paper on one side and 1 on the other. It is stuck in a funnel with water and placed in a conical flask. The suspension is carefully poured into the filter paper.

Question 7

Solution

Answer 7

A solution is produced when a solute dissolves in a solvent to form a homogeneous liquid. This means it is the same throughout. There are no little particles visible and it is not cloudy. It may be coloured or clear.

Question 8

Suspension

Answer 8

A suspension occurs when an insoluble substance is mixed in a liquid. As the substance is insoluble, it sits in the liquid rather than dissolving in it and can be seen as a cloudy liquid as the little particles are visible.

Question 9

Sediment

Answer 9

A sediment forms when a insoluble substance settles to the bottom of the liquid as a sediment.

Question 10

Distillation

Answer 10

Distillation is a way of separating a solute from the solvent it is dissolved in. The solution is heated and the solvent evaporated, leaving the solute behind. The solvent is then cooled to allow it to condense and form a liquid again which is collected.

Question 11

Evaporation

Answer 11

Evaporation is a way of separating a solute from the solvent it is dissolved in when you don’t want to keep the solvent. The solution is heated in an evaporation dish allowing the solvent to evaporate, leaving the solute in the evaporation dish.

Question 12

Magnetic separation

Answer 12

Using a magnet to attract the insoluble iron filings that are in a liquid to remove them.

Question 13

Dilute

Answer 13

When there is only a small amount of a solute dissolved in a solvent.

Question 14

Concentrated

Answer 14

When there is a large amount of solute dissolved in a solvent.

Question 15

Saturated

Answer 15

A solution is said to be saturated when no more solute can be dissolved in the amount of solvent that is present.

Question 16

Unsaturated

Answer 16

A solution is said to be unsaturated when more solute will dissolve when added to the solvent.

Question 17

Sieving

Answer 17

Sieving is a type of filtering. It uses larger holes so separates out larger particles from a suspension than filtering does. It is good to sieve before filtering to ensure that there are less particles to clog up the filter paper.

Question 18

Separating soluble mixtures

Answer 18

To separate a solute from a solvent there are two main methods - distillation, which keeps both the solvent and solutes and evaporation which only keeps the solute.

Question 19

Separating insoluble mixtures

Answer 19

When separating insoluble substances a number of methods can be used - decanting for a sediment, sieving and filtering for a suspension, centrifuging will also work for a suspension and magnetic separation will take out iron filings.

Question 20

Centrifuging

Answer 20

Centrifuging involves spinning something very fast to force the solid suspension to the bottom or sides. A washing machine is a centrifuges and sieve together.

Question 21

Filtrate

Answer 21

The filtrate is the liquid that passes through the filter paper in filtering into the conical flask.

Question 22

Residue

Answer 22

The residue is the material that is left behind. It is what stays behind in the filter paper when filtering.

Question 23

Distillate

Answer 23

The distillate is the distiller water you collected in the test tube during distillation.

Question 24

Homogeneous

Answer 24

A homogeneous solution is one that is the same throughout. It does not have any particles that are visible and so is not cloudy.

Question 25

Dissolve

Answer 25

When a substance dissolves it breaks up until it is so small it cannot be seen any more. The particles mix with the particles of the solvent to make a homogeneous solution.

Question 26

Condensation

Answer 26

Condensation is when a gas cools down enough to reform into a liquid.

Question 27

Filter paper

Answer 27

Filter paper is the paper that you use to filter out an insoluble suspension from a liquid.