Chapter 2

Experimental Techniques

Pure and Impure Substances

Pure Substance
No particles of any other substances
mixed with it
Melts sharply at its unique melting
point
Boils sharply at its unique boiling
point

particle content
melting point
boiling point

Impure Substance
Has particles of other substances
mixed with it
Melts at a lower temperature than the
pure substance
Boils at a higher temperature than
the pure substance

Does Purity Matter??

1.
2.

An unwanted substance, mixed with the substance you want, is called impurity.
Purity is very important in foodstuffs and vaccines or medical drug, to make sure it contains
nothing that can harm people.

Separation: First Step in Obtaining a Pure Substance

Method of Separation

Used to Separate

Filtration

A insoluble solid from a liquid

Crystallisation

A solute from its solution

Evaporation

A solute from its solution

Simple distillation

A solvent from its solution

Fractional distillation

Liquids from each other

Paper chromatography

Different substances from a solution

Filtration

To separate: an insoluble solid from

liquid
Steps:
1. Pour the suspension on the folded
filter paper.
2. The solid remains on filter paper.
Rinse with distilled water.
3. The filtrate passes through the paper.

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Ms. Tang SC

Crystallisation

Evaporation

To separate: solute from a solution

To separate: solute from a solution

Steps:

Steps:

1. Heat the solution to evaporate some

solvent.
2. Test the hot solution using glass rod.
If crystals form on the rod, the
solution is saturated.
3. Stop heating. Leave to cool. As it
cools, crystals of the solute form.
4. Filter the crystals. Rinse with a little
distilled water. Dry with filter paper.

1. Heat the solution to evaporate

solvent.
2. When there is only a little water left,
crystals of solute start to appear.
3. Heat carefully till dry.

Crystallisation and evaporation works because solids are less soluble at lower temperature.

Separating a Mixture of 2 Solids

What you have
A mixture of sand and salt

How you separate the solids

1. Add water to dissolve the salt.
2. Filter to remove sand. Rinse the sand with
a little distilled water and dry in oven.
3. Evaporate the filtrate to obtain pure salt.

A mixture of salt and sugar

(ethanol dissolves sugar but not salt)

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1. Add ethanol to dissolve sugar.

2. Filter to remove salt. Rinse it with a little
ethanol.
3. Evaporate the ethanol from solution of
sugar in ethanol, over a water bath.

Ms. Tang SC

Simple Distillation

Fractional Distillation

To separate: solvent from a solution

To separate: two or more miscible liquids

Steps:

Steps:

1. The solvent boils off as a vapour at its

boiling point.
2. The vapour condenses to a liquid in
the cool condenser and drips into the
beaker.
3. The solute is left behind in the flask.

1. The mixture is heated up to boiling

point of A. A boils and some B
evaporates too.
2. The vapour condenses on the glass
beads, making them hot.
3. When the beads reach b.p. of A,
vapour A no longer condenses. Only
B does.
4. Vapour A goes to condenser and B
drips back into the flask.
5. Pure A drips into the beaker.

Fractional distillation works because liquids have different boiling points.

Fractional Distillation in Industry
To refine crude oil into petrol and other compounds
To separate ethanol from fermented mixture
To separate gases in air

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Ms. Tang SC

Paper Chromatography
Used to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Check purity of a mixture

Find out how many substances present in a mixture
Separate mixture of substances
Identify a substance

Separating the Dyes in Ink

1

1. Mark a base line on

the paper using
pencil.
2. Spot then ink on it.

3. Stand the paper

upright in a beaker
containing a little
water (solvent).
4. Put a lid on the
beaker.

5. Allow water to rise

up the paper.
6. When it is near the
top, remove the
paper.
7. Dry it in oven.

8. The chromatogram
shows the black ink
is made of three
dyes.

Separating Colourless Substances

1

1. Spot the colourless

solution of amino
acids on the base
lined (marked in
pencil).
2. Stand the paper in
solvent.

3. Remove the paper

4. Mark the line
(solvent front) to
show where the
solvent stopped.
5. No spots are seen!

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6. Dry the paper in

oven.
7. Spray it with a
locating agent
(ninhydrin).

8. Identify each amino

acids in the mixture
by working out on
the Rf value

Ms. Tang SC