Separation Techniques Flashcards
would be easier with pictures
Chromatography
A technique that is used to separate the components of a mixture based on the tendency of each component to travel or be drawn across the surface of another material.
Paper: pigment solutions.
Column: solutions or other liquid mixtures.
Hand Separation
Use your hand to reach in and take out the parts that are easy to see.
Only use for heterogeneous mixtures - solids.
Skimming
Scooping a solid that has formed a layer on the surface of a liquid.
Separation Funnel
A large funnel having a tap in its output tube, used to separate liquids that do not form a homogeneous mixture when added together.
The denser liquid passes through the funnel first and is collected in a separate beaker.
Use for heterogeneous mixtures - liquids.
Magnetic Separation
A method of separating magnetic materials from nonmagnetic ones.
Used for heterogeneous mixtures - dry samples.
Centrifugation
Process of separating out particles of different sizes and densities by spinning them at high speed in a centrifuge.
Use for colloids/suspensions.
Filtration
The process that separates a solid from the liquid in a heterogeneous mixture - solution + undissolved particles.
Evaporation and Crystallisation
Evaporation: Liquid removed from a solution by changing into gas.
Crystallization: When solution evaporates, not enough liquid remains to dissolve the solute. The solution is considered super-saturated and crystals start to appear.
Distillation
A process that separates the substances in a solution based on their boiling points.
Simple: Liquid + solid
Fractional: ONLY liquids that are miscible (dissolve in one another) and have different boiling points.
Dissolving
A physical change in which particles of a substance are separated by water particles.
Decanting
A method of separating immiscible liquids by pouring the top layer into another container.
