CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOK

MIXTURES AND PURE

SUBSTANCES.
SEPARATING MIXTURES
Students book for 8th grades
CONTENT
MIXTURES.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Heterogeneous mixtures ........................................................................................................................... 2
Homogeneous mixtures ............................................................................................................................ 3
Solutions ............................................................................................................................................... 4
How can you tell if a substance is pure? ...................................................................................................... 5
Separating a solid from a solution ............................................................................................................ 6
Filtration ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Decanting.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Crystallization ...................................................................................................................................... 7
Evaporation .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Solvent extraction ................................................................................................................................. 8
Separating a mixture of two solids ........................................................................................................... 8
By dissolving one of the two solids ...................................................................................................... 8
Separating a solvent from a solution ........................................................................................................ 8
Simple distillation................................................................................................................................. 8
Separating two liquids .............................................................................................................................. 9
Fractional distillation ............................................................................................................................ 9
Separating funnel ................................................................................................................................ 10
Separating a mixture of colored substances ........................................................................................... 11
Paper chromatography....................................................................................................................... 11
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................... 12

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MIXTURES DEFINITIONS
A mixture contains more than one substance. The
substances are just mixed together, and not chemically A mixture is a
combined. For example: combination of two
or more
 Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and small
substances, where
amounts of other gases.
these substances
 Shampoo is a mixture of several chemicals and
water. are not bonded (or
joined) to each
In a mixture, the substances that make up the mixture: other and no
 are not in a fixed ratio chemical reaction
occurs between the
Imagine, for example, that you have 250 ml of water and
substances.
you add sand to the water. It does not matter whether you
add 20 g, 40 g, 100 g or any other mass of sand to the A heterogeneous
water; it will still be called a mixture of sand and water. mixture is one that
 keep their physical properties consists of two or
more substances. It
In the example we used of sand and water, neither of these is non-uniform and
substances has changed in any way when they are mixed the different
together. The sand is still sand and the water is still water. components of the
 can be separated by mechanical means mixture can be
seen.
To separate something by “mechanical means”, means that
there is no chemical process involved. In our sand and A homogeneous
water example, it is possible to separate the mixture by mixture is one that
simply pouring the water through a filter. is uniform, and
Something physical is done to the mixture, rather than where the different
something chemical. components of the
We can group mixtures further by dividing them into those mixture cannot be
that are heterogeneous and those that are homogeneous. seen.

Heterogeneous mixtures
A heterogeneous mixture does not have a definite
composition. Cereal in milk is an example of a
heterogeneous mixture. Soil is another example. Soil has
pebbles, plant matter and sand in it. Although you may add
one substance to the other, they will stay separate in the
mixture. We say that these heterogeneous mixtures are non-
uniform, in other words they are not exactly the same
throughout.

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INTERESTING FACTS Heterogeneous mixtures can be further subdivided
according to whether it is two liquids mixed a solid and a
An alloy is a liquid or a liquid and a gas or even a gas and a solid. These
homogeneous mixtures are given special names that you can see in table
mixture of two or 3.1.
more elements, at Phases of matter Name of mixture Example
least one of which Liquid-liquid Emulsion Oil in water
is a metal, where Solid- liquid Suspension Muddy water
the resulting Gas- liquid Aerosol Fizzy drinks
material has Gas- solid Smoke Smog
metallic properties.
Table 3.1. Types of heterogeneous mixtures
For example, steel
is an alloy made up Homogeneous mixtures
mainly from iron A homogeneous mixture has a definite composition, and
with a small specific properties. In a homogeneous mixture, the different
amount of carbon parts cannot be seen.
(to make it harder), A solution of salt dissolved in water is an example of a
manganese (to homogeneous mixture. When the salt dissolves, it spreads
make it strong) and evenly through the water so that all parts of the solution are
chromium (to the same, and you can no longer see the salt as being
prevent rusting). separate from the water.
The salt has dissolved in the water, giving a mixture called
a solution. Salt is the solute, and water is the solvent.
The air we breathe is another example of a homogeneous
mixture since it is made up of different gases which are in a
constant ratio, and which can't be visually distinguished
from each other (i.e. you can't see the different
components).

Figure 3.1. Types of mixtures: Homogeneous (sugar

solution) and Heterogeneous (Sand in water)

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 Solutions DEFINITIONS
Water is the world’s most common solvent. A solution in
water is called aqueous solution (from aqua, the Latin Solution – a mixture
word for water). you make by
dissolving a
However, many other solvents are used in industry and substance in a
about the house to dissolve substances that are insoluble in solvent.
water. For example, acetone dissolves nail polish. Ethanol
dissolves glues, printing inks, the scented substances that Solute – the
are used in perfumes. substance that you
dissolve.
Acetone and ethanol evaporate easily at room temperature
– they are volatile. This means that glues and paints dry Solvent – the liquid
easily. in which you
dissolve the
Pure substances and mixtures
substance
A pure substance has no other substance mixed with it.
A volatile liquid is
In real life, very few substances are 100% pure. For one that
example, tap water contains small amounts of many evaporates easily.
different particles (such as calcium ions and chloride ions). This is a sign that
The particles in it are not usually harmful – and some are
the forces between
even good for you.
its particles are
Distilled water is much purer than tap water, but still not weak. Volatile
100% pure. It may contain particles of gases dissolved from liquids have low
the air. boiling points.
Often it does not matter if a substance is not pure. We wash
in tap water without thinking too much about what is in it.
But sometimes purity is very important. If you are making
a new medicine, or a flavouring food, you must make sure
it contains nothing that could harm people.
An unwanted substance, mixed with the substance you
want, is called an impurity.

Figure 3.2. It is important that each substance present in baby food is pure.
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STUDY TIP How can you tell if a substance is pure?
Chemists use complex methods to check purity. But there is
Remember that
one simple method you can use in the lab: you can check
pure substances
melting and boiling points.
have definite sharp
melting and boiling  A pure substance has a definite melting and boiling
points. Impure points. These are different for each substance. You can
substances melt look them in special tables.
and boil over a  When a substance contains an impurity: its melting
points falls and its boiling point rises. It melts and boils
range of
over a range of temperatures, not sharply.
temperatures.
 The more impurity there is, the bigger the change in
melting and boiling points. The wider the temperature
range over which melting and boiling occur.

Figure 3.3. Boiling points of pure and impure water.

SEPARATING MIXTURES
In most chemical reactions, several products are made.
These products often need to be separated from unused
reactants or other impurities. We can use several simple
methods to purify a mixture depending on the state of the
substance we want to obtain. (Table 3.2.)
Method of separation Used to separate….
Filtration A solid from a liquid
Crystallization A solute from its solution
Evaporation A solute from its solution
Simple distillation A solvent from a solution
Fractional distillation Liquids from each other
Paper Different substances from a
chromatography solution

Table 3.2. Methods of separation.

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 Separating a solid from a solution INTERESTING FACTS
Filtration
How did gold miners
A solution contains a solid dissolved in a solvent. The
search for gold?
dissolved solid is called the solute. The liquid that
dissolves the solid is the solvent.
An undissolved solid can be separated from a solution or
liquid by passing it through a piece of filter paper in a filter
tunnel. This is called filtration. (Figure 3.4.)
The solution, which passes through the filter paper, is
called the filtrate. Beginning in the
The solid that stays on the filter paper is called the residue. late 1840s,
thousands of
The solid should be washed with distilled water to remove
prospectors rushed
any solution between the solid particles. The solid is then
dried in an oven. to California to
search for gold.
One of the
approaches taken
to isolate the gold
from the soil was
called “panning.”
Dirt would be
placed in the pan
and covered with
water. After
thorough mixing,
the pan is gently
swirled to remove
dissolved material
Figure 3.4. Filtration while the heavier
Decanting is simply pouring off the solution. It is suitable gold settles to the
for solids that have very heavy particles – for example, to bottom of the pan.
separate sand from water. The gold is then
separated from the
A centrifuge is a machine which spins test tubes round and
mixture of soil and
around at very high speeds. The spinning pulls the solid to
water.
the bottom of the tube. You can then decant the liquid from
the solid. To get rid of any solution between the particles of
solid, you can break up the solid, wash the solid with water
and centrifuge again (figure 3.5.).

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 KEY POINTS

Solids can be
separated from
solutions by
filtration,
decanting or
centrifugation.
Figure 3.5. Centrifuging.
Crystals are
formed when a A centrifuge is used to separate small amounts of solid held in
solution of a suspension from the liquid. For example, chalk from water.
crystalline solid
Crystallization
is partly
Crystallization is used to obtain a crystalline solid from a
evaporated saturated solution.
then allowed to
cool. If the solution is saturated, then when the solvent evaporates,
what is left behind cannot hang on to as much of the solute. So
Solvent the solute leaves the solution and forms crystals (figure 5.6.).
extraction can
be used to
separate two
solids dissolved
in a liquid.

Figure 3.6. Crystallization.

Evaporation
A solid dissolved in a solution can be separated by evaporating
the solvent.
By heating the solution the solvent (water) evaporates leaving
the solid (salt) behind. This is possible since the two substances
have different boiling points (figure 3.7.).
If the solvent is flammable, like ethanol for example, then
instead of heating directly with a Bunsen burner, the solution is
heated with a water bath to avoid it catching fire.

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 DEFINITIONS

Filtration is a
method to separate
a mixture of a liquid
and an insoluble
solid by passing it
through paper or
Figure 3.7. Evaporation. other material,
which only allows
the liquid through.
Solvent extraction Filtrate is the liquid
Solvent extraction can be used to separate two solutes that passes through
dissolved in a solvent. This is especially useful if one of the a filter.
solutes is volatile (evaporates readily). A second solvent is
used to extract one of the solids from the first solvent. The Decanting is
second solvent must not mix with the first. For example, we separating an
have a solution of iodine and salt dissolved in water and we insoluble solid from
want to separate the iodine. We shake the solution of iodine a liquid by pouring
and salt with a solvent called hexane. We do this in a off the liquid.
separating funnel. After shaking, the iodine has moved to
the hexane layer. The salt will remain in the water layer. Crystallization is the
formation of
Separating a mixture of two solids crystals as a
solution cools.
By dissolving one of the two solids
If you have a mixture of salt and sand, then by placing the Distillation is a
mixture in water, you will find that the salt dissolves but process in which
the sand remains. solvent is separated
from a solute by
If this new mixture is then filtered, the salt in the salty
water solution passes through the filter paper to form the heating the
filtrate and the sand remains as the residue. solution. The
solvent boils and
All that is now left to do is to heat the salty water, allowing then condenses
the water to evaporate leaving behind the salt.
and the solvent is
Separating a solvent from a solution collected.

Simple distillation
A solvent can be separated from a solution by evaporating
and then condensing the solvent. This is called distillation
(figure 3.8.).

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DEFINITIONS The solution is heated in the round-bottomed flask. As it
boils, steam rises into the condenser (this cools the steam
Fractional back to water). Eventually the salt (solute) is left behind.
distillation is a The water collected in the beaker is called distilled water.
process in which a
mixture of liquids
with different
boiling points is
separated by
distillation.

Figure 3.8. Simple distillation of salty water

Separating two liquids

Fractional distillation
If two liquids are miscible (they mix together well), they
can be separated using apparatus shown in the figure 3.9.

Figure 3.9. Fractional distillation.

For example, to separate a mixture of ethanol and water.
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Since, ethanol boils at 780C and water at 1000C, then by INTERESTING FACTS
gradually heating the mixture, ethanol and water vapor
rises up the column making the glass beads hot as they In Bhutan, steam
condense on them. distillation is used
Once the beads are 78oC, the ethanol vapor is forced into to make flavoring
the condenser, whilst the water vapor continues to and perfume from
condense and drip back into the flask. Meanwhile the lemon grass.
ethanol, now in the condenser, condenses and drips into the
beaker as liquid ethanol.
Fractional distillation in industry
Fractional distillation is very important in industry. It is
used:
 In the petroleum industry, to refine crude oil into
petrol and other groups of compounds. The oil is
heated and the vapors rise to different heights, up a
tall steel fractionating column.
 In producing ethanol. The ethanol is made by
fermentation, using sugar cane or other plant
material. It is separated from the fermented mixture KEY POINTS
by fractional distillation. Ethanol is used as a
solvent. Simple distillation is
 To separate the gases in air. The air is cooled until it used to separate
is liquid, then warmed up. The gases boil off one by water from a
one.
dissolved salt.
Separating funnel Fractional
If two liquids are immiscible, then a separating funnel is distillation is used
used (figure 3.10.).
to separate more
volatile liquids from
less volatile liquids.
Purification of a
mixture often
involves a
combination of
methods.

Figure 3.10. Separating funnel.

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STUDY TIP For example: If you pour a mixture of oil and water into
the funnel, the oil floats on top of the water. All that is left
When choosing a to do is for the tap to be opened to allow the water to pour
method to purify a through. The tap is closed once all the water has passed.
mixture, think
Separating a mixture of colored substances
about the states
and solubility of the Paper chromatography
substances in the Separating the colored substances in black ink (figure
mixture. 3.11.)

Figure 3.11. Paper chromatography.

1. A small drop of black ink is placed into the centre of the
filter paper.
2. Water is then dropped onto the ink.
3. The ink slowly spreads out, separating into rings of
different colours.
4. The filter paper with its coloured rings is called a
chromatogram.
5. The coloured substance furthest from the original black
ink spot is the most soluble.

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 SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. Copy and complete using the words below

centrifugation filtrate mixture residue solid trapped
distillation boiling column lower temperature volatile
An insoluble ________ can be separated from a liquid by filtration or ______. When a
_______ of a solid and a liquid is filtered, the solid _______ on the filter paper is called
the _______ and the liquid, which passes through, is called the ________.
Fractional ________ separates more volatile liquids from less ________ liquids. The
more volatile compounds have _____ boiling points. They move further up the
distillation _________. Each compound condenses when the ______ in the column falls
below its ______ point.

2. Which method or methods can be used to separate the following mixtures?

1) The two volatile liquids ethanol and octanol.

2) A mixture of solid copper (II) sulfate and sand.
3) Water from an aqueous solution of copper (II) sulfate.
4) Crushed chalk from a mixture of chalk and water.
5) Crystals of calcium chloride from a solution of calcium chloride.

3. True/False Questions
Think carefully about the following statements. Are they true or false? Circle your
answer.
a In filtration, the filtrate is always a pure liquid. True/False

b Drinking water can only be obtained from seawater by True/False

distillation.
c The fractional distillation of miscible liquids is only True/False
possible if the liquids have different boiling points
d Paper chromatography is a physcial method for True/False
separating mixtures.
e Mixtures have fixed melting and boiling points. True/False

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4. Mixtures word search

Find 10 words to do with separating techniques.

s o l u t e p v o s c chromatography
a f a i h o a i o l h
distillation
n m d z a c d l e n r
evaporation
o i e i u k u r v o o
filtrate
i x b u n t m a a i m
filtration
t t m s i f g t p t a
mixture
a u k o b j u e o a t
residue
r r n l l y t u r l o
solute
t e f v s i o d a l g
l d c e o a t i t i r solvent

i l t n a s o s i t a
f i l t r a t e o s p
y c n e u q e r n i h
u c x b k o w g l d y

Use the words you found to complete the sentences below

a) ………………. will help you to separate a mixture of lots of coloured dyes.
b) Air is an example of a …………………..
c) ……………….. occurs when a liquid turns into a gas.
d) You use a filter funnel and paper when you carry out ………………………..
e) A ……………………. is produced when salt dissolves in water.
f) ……………………….. is used to capture the water from ink.
g) The solid left on the filter paper after you have filtered a mixture is called the
……………… and the liquid part of the mixture that drips through the funnel is
called the ……………………
h) Water is sometimes called the universal ………………………….
i) The part of a solution that dissolves is called the …………………..

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