CHEMISTRY YEAR 09 Class activity sheet-25 (Separation of mixtures)

Lesson objectives:
By the end of this lesson, about 70% of the learners should be able to:
 State and explain the how mixtures can be separated by decantation, filtration and paper chromatography.
 Suggest suitable examples of mixtures separated by decantation, filtration and paper chromatography.
Recap of previous lesson:
What can you recall about the last lesson?
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Prompt for prior knowledge:

What do you know about purification (separation of mixture)?

Purification techniques
- Impure substances contain more than one kind of component present.
- Definition: purification is the separation process of mixtures into pure substances by the use of
physical methods.
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(A) Decantation
- Some solid-liquid mixtures contain an insoluble solid
that settles at the bottom of the liquid in the mixture.
- Such a solid is called a sediment. Such a mixture can be
separated by decanting.
- Decanting involves carefully pouring a liquid from a
mixture of liquid into another container and leaving
behind the undissolved solid.

ACTIVITY 01:
(a) What term will be used describe sand in a mixture of sand and water? Explain.
Sand here is called a sediment because it settles at the bottom of the solution
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(b) What method can be used to separate water from the mixture of sand and water?
Decantantion
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(c) Can the method stated in (a) (ii) above completely separate water from the sand? Explain.
No because some water will always remain adsorbed unto the surface of the sand
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(B) Filtration
- Some solid-liquid mixtures contain an insoluble solid
that suspends throughout the liquid in the mixture.
- Such a solid is called a suspension.
- Such a mixture can be separated by filtration using a
Dust particles filter paper and a funnel.
- Mixture is poured through a filter made of paper with
tiny holes (pores).
- Large solid particles cannot pass through the pores
and trapped in it as residue while tiny liquid particles
pass through and collected as filtrate.
ACTIVITY 02:
(a) On the diagram, identify the dust particles in the funnel.
(b) What name is given to the dust particles separated from the mixture?
Residue
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(c) What name is given to the pure water separated from the mixture?
The filtrate
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(d) Chalk powder is insoluble in water but suspends in water. What method (decantation or filtration)
can be used to separate water from a mixture of chalk powder in water? Explain.
Filtration since water molecules can pass through the filter paper but not chalk
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powder.
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(e) Can all the quantity of water in mixture be recovered by this method? Explain.
All the water cannot be recovered since some of the water would be absorbed by the
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filter paper and some adsorbed by chalk powder.
(f) Why can salt not be separated from salt solution by filtration?
The salt has dissolved and the salt particles are tiny enough to pass through the
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small holes (pores) of the filter paper.
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(C) Paper chromatography
- Chromatography comes from the Greek word chroma
meaning colour is used to separate and identify colours,
pigments and dyes.
- It can tell whether a solution has become contaminated.
- A drop of concentrated solution of mixture (mobile
phase) is usually placed on a pencil line near the bottom
edge of a strip of chromatography paper (stationary
phase) and allow to dry.
- The strip of paper is then dipped in the solvent (e.g. ethanol, acetone etc).
- The solvent level slowly rises, separating the dye molecules in the mixture and carry them up at
different rates because the dye molecules have different solubilities in the solvent.
- Depending on how strong the attraction is between the dye molecules and the solvent, it will
move more slowly or quickly as the solvent level rises.
- If the ink is a mixture of two or more dyes, then the different colours will move at different rates.
- This separates the different components of ink, allowing us to identify the colours used.
- The distance moved by a particular spot is measured and related to the position of the solvent
front.
- Retention factor (Rf) also called Rf value is given by the formula below.
distance moved by sustance
Rf value =
distance moved by solvent
- The filter paper showing the separated dye molecules is called a chromatogram. This method
works because different substances travel at different speeds because they have different levels
of attraction to it.
- Locating agents e.g. ninhydrin are substances that react with colourless spots e.g sugar spots,
amino acids spots on a chromatogram and makes them visible as coloured spots.
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Uses of chromatography:
• Separate mixtures of substances e.g. amino acids, dyes in ink, chlorophyll etc
• Purify a substance by separating the impurities from it
 • Identify a substance e.g. helps in crime detection
• check purity of a substance
• Identify pollutants in air, or in samples of river water
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Interpreting simple chromatograms:
- Number of different levels of spots = number of substances in the mixture
- If two dots travel the same distance up the paper they are the same substance.
- The value of Rf calculated helps to identify a particular substance such amino acids.
- The substance far up the chromatogram is the most soluble in the solvent.
- A pure substance produces only one spot on a chromatogram.
- The distance travelled by a particular substance is unique.
- The greater the distance travelled by spot up the paper, the more soluble the component.
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ACTIVITY 03: Given the diagrams below.

(a) Why must the line be drawn using a pencil and not using ink?
Pencil is made of graphite which is insoluble while ink is a mixtures of dyes which
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is soluble in the solvent.
(b) Which of the substances X, A, B, C and D is a pure substance? Explain.
A, B, C and D are all pure substances since each of them produces only one spot on
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the chromatogram.
(c) Which of the substances X, A, B, C and D is a mixture? Explain. ………………………………….
X since it produces more than one spot on the chromatogram.
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(d) How many substances (components) were in the mixture? Explain.
Three components since there are only three spots above X on the chromatogram.
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(e) Identify the substances that were in the mixture using the letters: A, B, C and D.
The components are A, B and D.
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(f) Using the letters: A, B, C and D, state and explain the substance(s) in the mixture with the most
Substance B since it travels the highest distance up the
soluble component in the solvent. …………………………………………………………………..
chromatogram.
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ACTIVITY 04: Diagram I below contains some amino acids and their respective R f values while
diagram II is a chromatogram a mixture X containing amino acids.
I II

Two.
(a) How many amino acids were in mixture X? ………………………………………………………
(b) Using diagram II, calculate the Rf value of each amino acid and use diagram I to identify each
First amino acid = 5.2 ÷12 = 0.43.
amino acid. …………………………………………………………………………………………
Second amino acid = 7.2 ÷12 = 0.60. Thus the amino acids present are proline (Rf =
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0.43) and valine (Rf = 0.60).
(c) If serine was one of the amino acids in the mixture, calculate its distance travelled and mark its
position on the chromatogram. First amino acid serine, x ÷12 = 0.27.
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=> x = 0.27 x 12 = 3.24.
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ASSIGNMENT

ANSWERS
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[Grand total = 7 mks]