Separation of the Components of a Binary Mixture

9-26-2011

Introduction

This lab was the separation of the components of a Binary mixture. The three objectives in this lab were: 1. Learn the different separation techniques which include; sublimation, extraction, decantation, filtration and evaporation. 2. Separate two components in a mixture using the separation techniques learned. 3. Determine the mass percentages of the two components present in a mixture. In order to separate the two components of a binary mixture, one must understand what a mixture is and the different separation techniques that can be used. Mixtures are defined as a physical combination of two or more pure substances. Separation techniques are used to separate components that are not chemically combined. Because only physically combined mixtures are being used in this experiment, the separation techniques described in this experiment are based on physical changes, rather than chemical changes.

5 separation techniques
1. Sublimation- Involves the heating of a solid that passes directly into a gaseous phase without transitioning into a liquid phase. The reverse process where a gas goes into the solid phase is called deposition or condensation. 2. Evaporation- Involves the heating of a mixture in order to separate a volatile liquid in the form of a vapor, while the residual components remain dry. 3. Extraction- Involves using of a solvent that selectively dissolves only a single component while the other components remain insoluble. 4. Filtration- Involves separating a liquid from a solid using a porous material such as filter paper. The porous material allows the liquid to pass through it but not the solid. 5. Decantation- Involves the separation of a liquid from insoluble solid sediment by carefully pouring the liquid without disturbing the solid.

Mixtures can be classified by composition as either a: 1. Homogenous Mixture: a mixture classified by having a uniform composition and appearance throughout. This mixture can have all of its components in one phase. 2. Heterogeneous Mixture: a mixture classified by having a composition that varies from one region to another. These mixtures can have components in different phases.

In this experiment a mixture will be obtained that contains two components: A.) Common table salt (NaCl) and B.) Sea Sand (SiO2). This mixture will be separated according to the techniques in the separation scheme shown in Figure 1-A.

The separation of this mixture consists of 2 main steps: 1. Extraction of NaCl using water as a solvent. 2. Recovering of NaCl and sea sand by evaporating water.

Figure 1-A: Separation Scheme

Mixture: Common table Salt (NaCl) And Sea Sand (SiO2) Extract with H O Filter Solution: NaCl (aq) Residue: Wet Sea Sand Evaporate HO

Evaporate HO

NaCl(s)

Sea Sand

Procedure
A. Preliminary Steps
1. Obtain a sample of the mixture, record the unknown code number on the data sheet. 2. Obtain a 150 ml beaker (Figure 5) and carefully weigh it to the nearest 0.01 g on the top loading scale (Figure 1) and record its mass on the data sheet. 3. Place about 2 g of the mixture into the empty beaker and carefully weigh it to the nearest 0.01 g with the top loading scale and record its mass on the data sheet. 4. Determine the mass of the mixture by subtracting the mass of the empty beaker from the mass of the beaker containing the mixture and record the calculated mass onto the data sheet.

B. Separation of the water insoluble solid

1. Add 25 ml of distilled water to the solid in the beaker. Heat on the hotplate (Figure 2) found in the fume hood (Figure 3) and stir with stirring rod (Figure 4) for 5 minutes. The NaCl should dissolve fully in the water, while the sea sand remains insoluble. 2. Weigh a second clean 150-ml beaker with 2-3 boiling chips (Figure 6) to the nearest 0.01 g and record its mass onto the data sheet. 3. Fold a piece of filter paper (Figure 7) according to the steps shown in figure B-1 4. Place the folded filter paper inside a funnel (Figure 8). The paper will need to be wetted with water, once wet adjust the filter paper so that it lies flat on the walls of the funnel. 5. Assemble the apparatus for gravity filtration as it is shown in Figure B-2, placing the clean beaker under the funnel. 6. Pour the mixture contained in the first beaker into the gravity filtration apparatus (Figure 9) and collect the filtrate into the second beaker. *DO NOT DISCARD THE FILTER PAPER: the filter paper containing the wet sand needs to be set aside for part C. 7. Rinse the first beaker with 5 ml of water, pour over the residue in the funnel. And add the liquid to the filtrate in the second beaker * REPEAT THIS STEP ONCE MORE.

8. Place the second beaker on the hotplate and heat. As the amount of liquid reduces, the NaCl dissolved will start to precipitate as a white solid. When the liquid is fully evaporated, allow the beaker to cool down to room temperature. 9. Weigh the beaker with the dry NaCl, and record the mass on the data sheet. 10. Determine the mass of the recovered NaCl by subtracting the mass of the second empty beaker. Once calculations are done record the mass of the recovered NaCl on the data sheet.

FIGURES OF STEPS:

Figure B-1

Figure B-2

C. Drying the Sea Sand Sample for Recovery Calculations

1. Weigh a third clean 150-ml beaker to the nearest 0.01 g and record its mass on the data sheet. 2. Transfer the wet sand from the filter paper to beaker 3. 3. Place beaker 3 with the wet sea sand on the hotplate and heat the sand to dryness. When the sand is completely dry, the sand should be free flowing. 4. Allow the sand to cool to room temperature. Weigh the beaker containing the dry sand to the nearest 0.01 g and record this mass onto the data sheet. 5. Determine the mass of the recovered sea sand by subtracting the mass of the empty beaker 3 from the mass of the beaker containing the dry sand. Record the mass of the recovered sand on the data sheet.

D. Calculations and Equations

1. Calculate the percent yield using the following formula:  % yield= (1.74/2.00)x100= 87%     

2. Calculate the percentage of each component in the mixture using the following formula:  % Component: % of Sand: (0.81/2.00)x 100= 40.5% % of NaCl: (0.93/2.00)x 100= 46.5%
     

Equipment
Here are some pictures of the equipment used in this experiment:

Figure 2

Figure 1 Figure 3

Figure 6 Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Data and Calculations

Separation of the Components of a Binary Mixture Data Sheet 68.82g 70.82 g 2.0g 66.55 g 67.48 g 0.93 g

1. Mass of Beaker 1

2. Mass of Beaker 1 + Mixture 3. Mass of Mixture (2)-(1) 4. Mass of Beaker 2 5. Mass of Beaker 2 + NaCl 6. Mass of NaCl (5)-(4)

7. Mass of Beaker 3 8. Mass of Beaker 3 + Sand 9. Mass of Sand (8)-(7) Calculations 10. Percentage of Sand %=[(9)/(3)]x100 11. Percentage of NaCl %=[(6)/(3)]x100 12. Mass of recovered Solids (6) + (9) 13. Percentage Yield %= [(12)/(3)]x100

68.82 g 69.63 g 0.81 g

40.5% 46.5% 1.74 g 87%

Results and Discussion

In this lab of Separation of the components of a binary mixture certain separation techniques were used and learned. In part B extraction was observed in separation of the water insoluble solid. The beaker from part A was used. 25 ml of distilled water was added to the solid in beaker 2; it was then heated while being stirred occasionally for 5 minutes. The NaCl was said to dissolve leaving only the insoluble sea sand in beaker 2. Filtration was also observed in this experiment; first filter paper was folded and wetted then placed flat into a funnel. The funnel was placed into the apparatus for the gravity filtration. Exactly 3 boiling chips were added to the clean beaker and weighed to the nearest 0.01g. The beaker containing the boiling chips was placed under the funnel. The remaining mixture found in beaker 1 was then poured into the gravity filtration apparatus and the filtrate was collected into the beaker with the boiling chips. After that the funnel was removed and an additional 5 ml of distilled water was put into beaker 1 and poured over the residue found in the funnel. The 5 ml of water was poured twice over the funnel. After all of the residue and filtrate was filtered the beaker was placed on a hotplate, the water boiled for a few minutes and the amount of liquid reduced quickly. The NaCl that was dissolved started to precipitate into a white solid. Once all of the liquid was gone the beaker was taken off the hotplate to be cooled to room temperature. Once it was fully cooled the weight of the beaker containing now dry NaCl was taken. The mass of the recovered NaCl was determined by subtracting the mass of the empty beaker 2 and the mass of the beaker

containing the dry NaCl. According to calculations the mass of the recovered NaCl was measured at 0.93 g. In part C, the sea sand had to be dried for the recovery calculations on the data sheet. To dry sea sand first the sand was placed into a clean 150 ml beaker and was weighed. The wet sand was then transferred from the filter paper into the clean beaker. The beaker containing the sand was then placed onto the hot plate, until the sand had dried completely. The sand was then cooled to room temperature and weighed to the nearest 0.01 g. The mass of the recovered sea sand was determined by subtracting the mass of the empty beaker from the mass of the beaker containing dry sea sand. The mass of the recovered sea sand was calculated at 0.81 g. For the Calculations part of the experiment percent yield and percentages of all substances was found. The percent yield was found by dividing the mass of the recovered solids by the mass of the mixture, then multiplying the answer by 100. (1.74/2.0)x100= 87%. The percentage yield for this experiment came out to be 87%. The makeup of that 87.0% is divided up between NaCl at 46.5% and sea sand at 40.5%. 87% is a reasonable percent yield but there is always room for error in lab experiments. Some errors that could have been made in this experiment include: 1. Not measuring the 2 grams of unknown mixture in the beginning of the experiment. 2. Rushing through the experiment by not letting the sand fully dry or not letting the NaCl dissolve in the water. 3. In the lab book it was stated not to let the water boil during the heating of the filtered water. In the lab though the water was allowed to be boiled, which may have disturbed the experiment. 4. Reasons why percentage yield may have differed from 100% could also be human error in calculations and the mass of the recovered solids was less than the mixture %.

Post Lab Questions

1. What was your percent yield? The percent yield for this experiment was 87.0%. This was found by dividing the mass of the recovered solids by the mass of the beginning mixture and multiplying by 100. (1.74g/2.0g)x100= 87.0% 2. Give two reasons why the percentage yield can differ from 100%. Do not include in your answer explanations like Human error or instrumental error . Two reasons why the percentage yield could differ from 100% include rushing and not letting the NaCl dissolve completely or if the mass of the recovered solids was less than the mixture %. Another reason would be if the water boiled too much and boiled over, NaCl may have been lost. This would greatly affect this experiment. 4. The sand was not completely free of water when the mass was reported on the data sheet. How does this affect the calculated percentage composition of the sand in the mixture? Would the calculated percentage composition of the sand be higher, lower, or unaffected? The percent composition would be higher because the mass would be calculated higher in the sand. The water would weigh the sand down and you would not be taking the mass of the sand you would be taking the mass of the sand plus the water in it. 3. If a student was unable to completely dissolve all the NaCl in the water, what effect would this have on the calculation of the percentage yield? Would the percentage yield be higher, lower or unaffected? The percentage yield would be lower because the mass of the NaCl would not have been fully calculated in the mass of recovered solids. When the NaCl precipitates into a white solid it would be a smaller amount thus affecting the percentage yield.