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Chemistry Matters for GCE ‘O’ Level (2 Edition): Textbook Answers Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Separation and Purification

Test Yourself 3.1 and 3.2 (page 39)

1. (a) Filtration
(b) Crystallisation, then filtration

2. Filtration

3. Strong heating is often used when evaporating a solution; this may cause some substances to
decompose.
Some substances such as hydrated salts give off water to become powders when heated.
During evaporation, any soluble impurities present will be left together with the solute. [Any two]

Test Yourself 3.3 (page 41)

1. Crush the sugarcane in hot water to dissolve the sugar. Filter and heat the solution until it is
saturated. Leave it to cool; sugar crystals will form on cooling.

2. Add hot water to the soil. Filter the mixture while it is still hot. Allow the filtrate to cool and potassium
nitrate will crystallise.

Test Yourself 3.4 and 3.5 (page 47)

1. A

2. Simple distillation. The colour of the ink would darken as water distils over and the remaining mixture
gets more concentrated.

3. (a) She is wrong. While both techniques involve using a condenser to condense the vapour, only
simple distillation requires a distillation flask. A round-bottomed flask is used in fractional
distillation.
(b) She is correct. Simple distillation is used to separate a pure solvent from a solution, not a solute
from a solvent.
(c) She is correct. Fractional distillation is usually used to separate liquids with boiling points that are
close together.
(d) She is wrong. The liquid with the lowest boiling point distils over first.

Test Yourself 3.6 (page 52)

1. The food colouring contains red and blue dyes. Thus, it should be purple in colour.

2. No. The substance would dissolve to a different degree in a different solvent. Thus, the distance
travelled by the substance up the chromatogram would vary with respect to the solvent, causing a
change in its Rf value.

Test Yourself 3.7 (page 55)

1. A

2. Y is impure ethanoic acid. Impurities lower its melting point from 17°C to 15°C and increase its boiling
point from 118°C to 121°C.

3. Z is B. Mixture Z + B melts at almost the same temperature as B.

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Chemistry Matters for GCE ‘O’ Level (2 Edition): Textbook Answers Chapter 3

Get it Right (page 57)

(a) False. Boiled tap water is a mixture.

(b) False. When a mixture is filtered, the solid left on the filter paper is called the residue. The solution
that passes through the filter paper is called the filtrate.
(c) False. During crystallisation, a solution is heated until enough water has boiled off to form a hot
saturated solution.
(d) True
(e) False. In simple distillation, the bulb of the thermometer should be placed beside the side arm of the
distillation flask to ensure that the thermometer measures the boiling point of the substance that is
being distilled.
(f) True
(g) False. When oil and water are shaken together, they appear to mix, but in fact they form an
emulsion, which eventually separates into different layers of liquids. These can be separated using
a separating funnel.
(h) False. Chromatography is used to separate the dyes present in ink.
(i) False. Impurities lower the melting point of a solid, but increase the boiling point of a liquid.

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