Chemistry Handout

How solubility changes with temperature

Solubility

If a solvent dissolves a particular substance, we say that the substance is very soluble
in that solvent .If the solute does not appear to dissolve in the solvent, we say that the
substance is insoluble. Solubility depends on both the solute and the solvent. Some
substances may be insoluble in water but soluble in other solvents. For example,
sulfur is insoluble in water but dissolves in some organic solvents.

If, at constant temperature, a solution can dissolve more solute, we say that the
solution is unsaturated. If the solution cannot dissolve any more solid and excess
solid present, we say that the solution is saturated.

The solubility of a solute in a solvent is the number of grams of solute needed to form a
saturated solution per 100 grams of solvent used. The temperature must always be
quoted. This is because solubility varies with temperature.

The effect of temperature on solubility

When we warm saturated solutions of most substances, the solution becomes

unsaturated. For most solutes in water, solubility increases as temperature increases.

A solubility curve shows the mass of solute dissolved to form a saturated solution per
100 grams of solvent at different temperatures.
Fractional Crystallization

Fractional crystallization can be used to separate two dissolved substances which

have different solubilities at different temperatures. A warm concentrated solution
containing the two solutes is cooled. A larger proportion of the solute with the lower
solubility crystallizes out. The solute with the higher solubility remains in solution.
The crystals still contain a small amount of the solute with higher solubility. So the
procedure is repeated several times to improve the purity. Filtration is used to
separate the crystals from the solution.

Filtration, crystallization and distillation

Filtration

Filtration separates undissolved solids from a solution or liquid. The spaces in the
filter paper are very small, so the particles in the solution can flow through but the
particles in the solid are too large to flow through. They get trapped in the filter paper.

 Gently heat the solution in an evaporating basin to concentrate

 Evaporate the solvent until a saturated solution (crystallization point) is
reached. This is reached when a drop of the solution forms crystals when
placed on a cold tile.
 Leave the saturated solution to cool and form crystals
 Filter off the crystals and dry them between filter papers.
Simple Distillation

Simple distillation is used to separate a liquid from a solid, e.g. to separate salt and
water from solution of sodium chloride. Distillation involves the processes of boiling
and condensation. It works because the components to be separated have very
different boiling points.

The procedure for separating water from salt by simple distillation as follows:

 Heat the solution of salt in water in a distillation flask

 The water boils first because it has a much lower boiling point from salt.
 The steam goes into the condenser
 The condenser is at a lower temperature than the boiling point of water, so the
water condenses here, and is collected in a flask
 The salt remains in the distillation flask because it has a much higher boiling
point than water.
Fractional Distillation

Fractional distillation is used to separate two or more liquids with different boiling
points from each other. This method is used to separate petroleum fractions and to
purify alcohol from a mixture of water and alcohol.

 The more volatile components in the liquid mixture (the ones with the lower
boiling points), boil first, so as they move up the column, the vapor contains
more of the volatile components.
 There is a gradient of temperature in the column, which is hotter at the bottom
than at the top.
 More of the less volatile components (the ones with higher boiling points)
condense lower down because they have higher boiling points, so the more
volatile components move further up the column.
 As the mixture is heated more and more, the vapors move up the column.
 The components of the mixture reach the condenser in turn. They change from
vapor to liquid in the condenser and the fractions containing particular
components of the mixture are collected one at a time.

The boiling point and therefore the distance moved up the column depend on:

 The size of the molecule-smaller molecules of similar types tend to have lower
boiling points than larger molecules and so move further up the column than
larger ones
 The mass of the molecules-lighter molecules of similar types tend to have lower
boiling points and so move further up the column than heavier ones.
Chromatography and use of a separating funnel

Paper Chromatography

Paper Chromatography is used to separate a mixture of different dissolved substances.

The method is often used to separate the different pigments (colored compounds)
present in food coloring and inks.

How Chromatography works

The separation of the components in the mixture depends on the solvent or mixture of
solvents used.

 With a single solvent, the separation of the components in a mixture depends

on the solubility of the component in the solvent and the attraction of the
component to the paper. Components that are more attracted to the paper move
more slowly up the paper.
 In a mixture of two solvents, one solvent is attracted to the paper more strongly
than the other. If a component in the dye is more soluble in the solvent that is
more strongly attracted to the paper, it will not move as fast during
chromatography. If a component in the dye is more soluble in the solvent that is
less strongly attracted to the paper, it will move faster during chromatography.

Using a separating funnel

A separating funnel is used to separate immiscible liquids that have different

densities. Immiscible liquids are liquids that do not mix.

We can use a separating funnel to separate two solutes dissolved in a solvent. An

example is a solution of potassium iodine in water. Iodine is more soluble in hexane
than in water, but potassium iodine is more soluble in water than in hexane. We can
separate the iodine from the potassium iodine in the following way:

 Put the solution of iodine and potassium iodine in a separating funnel.

 Add hexane to the separating funnel(hexane is immiscible with water)
 Shake the contents of the funnel to mix the solutions
  Most of the iodine moves to the hexane layer and the potassium iodine remains
in the water
 The layer of potassium iodine in water is run off, leaving the iodine in the
hexane layer.

Extraction of sucrose from sugar cane

Sucrose is extracted from the stem of the sugar cane. Sugar cane is a grass.

Extraction of the Juice

The canes are chopped into short lengths and passed through crushers which remove
some of the juice. The rest is removed by the application of pressure supplied by a
series of mills. The extraction process results in the formation of cane juice, which is
slightly acidic, and the cellulose material called bagasse. The juice is separated from
the solid particles by sieves.

Clarification of the Juice

The juice contains mainly sucrose. In addition, there are other organic compounds
including other sugars. In this process lime is added. The lime serves to make juice
alkaline and precipitate some of the impurities. The juice is boiled. As cooling takes
place, the solid particles settle out in a substance called mud. The clarified juice is
poured off. Water is sprayed on the mud to dissolve any remaining sucrose. The
mixture is then filtered and the filtrate added to the clarified juice.

Concentrating the Juice

The aim is to obtain a solution suitable for crystallization by evaporating a lot of the
solvent. A number of large vessels called evaporators are used. These vessels are
arranged so that, with each successive evaporator, the pressure is decreased. With
reduced pressure, the boiling point is lowered. At a lower boiling point, less heat is
involved in evaporating the solvent. This reduces the possibility of charring.

Crystallization

The concentrated syrup is passed into vacuum pans where continued boiling causes
supersaturation. The syrup then passes into a large container with a spiral stirrer.
Crystallization is achieved by seeding the supersaturated solution with sugar crystals.
Sugar crystals can also be formed by cooling a saturated solution. Stirring helps to
spend up crystal formation.

Centrifugation

Large vessels equipped with perforated inner casings form giant centrifuges. These are
used for separating the crystals from the mother liquor known as molasses. As the
centrifuges spin, the molasses escapes into the vessel, while the crystals remain in the
casings. These crystals, when dried, are sold as brown or unrefined sugar.
Practice Questions

1. Particles are closest together in:

A. Solids

B. Gases

C. Solutions

D. Liquids

2. When a solid changes straight to a gas it is called:

A. Melting

B. Evaporation

C. Sublimation

D. Boiling

3. The opposite of evaporation is:

A. Freezing

B. Melting

C. Boiling

D. Condensing

4. Which of the following statements is/are true?

I. In diffusion particles move

II. Gases diffuse faster than liquids

III. The spread of cooking smells is an example of diffusion

IV. Evaporation and diffusion are really the same thing

A. I and II
 B. I,II and IV
C. I,II and III
D. II and IV

5. What is meant by osmosis?

Cxc practice questions

Substance Melting Point (Cᵒ) Boiling Point (ᵒC)

P -285 -183
Q 800 1400
R 190 180
S -20 350

(A) P only
(B) R only
(C) P and S only
(D) Q and R only

Which substance(s)

1. Will have fast moving particles

2. Will be solid(s)?

3. At a stage in the process of extracting sucrose from sugar cane, lime is added to the
sucrose solution in order to

(A) Lower the ph of the solution

(B) Raise the ph of the solution

(C) Stop the sucrose changing into sugar that would crystallize out

4. A mixture of copper(II) chloride solution and copper(II) oxide could BEST be

separated by

(A) Distilling the mixture

(B) Heating the mixture and condensing

(C)Shaking with excess water and then filtering

(D) Shaking with excess water followed by fractional distillation

Atomic Structure

An atom can be defined as the smallest particle of an element.

Copper is an element .If you tried to chop it up into smaller and smaller bits,
eventually you would end up with the smallest possible piece of copper.

The structure of an element

Atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons.

Virtually all the mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus, because the
electrons weigh hardly anything.

The masses and charges are measured relative to each other because the actual
values are incredibly small. For example, it would take about 600 000 000 000 000
000 000 000 protons to weigh 1 gram.

Atomic number and mass number

The number of protons in an atom is called its atomic number or proton number.
Each of the hundred or so different elements has a different elements has a different
number of protons. For example, if an atom has eight protons it must be an oxygen
atom.

Atomic number=number of protons

The number of protons is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of
the atom

Mass number=number of protons + number of neutrons

For any particular atom this information can be shown simply as, for example:

⁵⁹₂₇Co

Where:

59 represents the mass number count/protons + neutrons

27 represents the atomic number count/number of protons

This particular atom of cobalt contains 27 protons. To make the total number of
protons and neutrons up to 59,there must be 32 neutrons.

The electrons

Counting the number of electrons in the atom

Atoms are electrically neutral, and the positiveness of the proton is balanced by the
negativeness of the electrons. In a neutral atom it follows that:

Number of electrons=number of protons

So, if an oxygen atom (atomic number=8) has eight protons, it must also have eight
electrons; if a chlorine atom (atomic number=17) has 17 protons, it must also have 17
electrons.
Isotopes

The number of neutrons in an atom can vary slightly. For example, there are three
kinds of carbon atoms, called carbon-12, carbon-13 and carbon-14.They all have the
same number of protons (because all carbon atoms have six protons-its atomic
number), but the number of neutrons varies. These different atoms of carbon are
called isotopes.

Isotopes are atoms which have the same atomic number, but different mass numbers.
They have the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons.

Using Radioisotopes

Carbon-14 is radioactive. Its nucleus is unstable and radiation is released as it

recognizes into a more stable form. The radiation given off by carbon-14 is used in
carbon dating. The nuclei of the carbon-12 and carbon-13 isotopes are perfectly
stable, so these aren’t radioactive.

We can detect the radiation given off by radioactive isotopes. This can be useful for
doctors. Some people have a faulty thyroid gland and this makes them ill. The thyroid
gland absorbs the element iodine. Doctors can inject a weakly radioactive solution into
the patient. If the thyroid is working normally, most of the radioactive isotope will be
detected in the thyroid gland in the neck. If the gland is faulty, the radioactivity will be
more spread out.

Another use of radioactive isotopes is to kill cancer cells. The radiation must be strong
enough to kill cancer cells but not so strong that is destroys healthy cells as well.

Fresh food can go quite quickly if microbes start to grow in it. If the food is exposed to
the radiation from radioactive isotopes, the bugs will be killed. The food lasts much
longer.
Atomic number and the periodic table

Atoms are arranged in the periodic table in order of increasing atomic number. Most
periodic tables have two numbers against each symbol. The atomic number will
always be the smaller number. The other number will be either the mass number of
the most common isotope of the element, or the relative atomic mass of the element.

The arrangement of the electrons

The electrons are found at considerable distances from the nucleus in a series of levels
called energy levels or shells. Each energy level can hold only a certain number of
electrons. Low energy levels are always filled before higher ones.

How to work out the arrangement of the electrons

We will use chlorine as an example

Look up the atomic number in the periodic table (make sure that you don’t use the
wrong number. The atomic number will always be the smaller one)

This tells you the number of protons, and hence the number of electrons (there are 17
protons and so 17 electrons in a neutral chlorine atom)

Arrange the electrons in levels, always filling up an inner (lower energy) level before
you go to an outer one.

These will be arranged as 2 in the first level, 8 in the second level and 7 in the third
level. This is written as 2, 8, 7.

Vertical columns in the periodic table are called groups. Groups contain elements with
similar properties.

There are two important generalizations you can make from this:

The number of electrons in the outer level is the same as the group number for groups
1 to 7.This pattern extends right down the periodic table for these groups. So, for
example, if you know that barium is in group 2, you know that it has two electrons on
its outer level; iodine (group 7) has seven electrons in its outer level.

The elements in group 0 have eight electrons (apart from helium, which has two)

These are often thought of as being full energy levels. This is true for helium and neon,
but not for the elements from argon downwards. For example, the third energy level
will eventually contain 18 electrons.

The group 0 elements are known as noble gases because they are almost completely
unreactive. This lack of reactivity is associated with their electron structures-often
described as noble gas structures.
Drawing diagrams of electronic arrangements

The electrons in their various energy levels can be shown by drawing circles with dots
or crosses on them showing the electrons. Hydrogen has one electron and helium has
two in their first level. The helium electrons are sometimes shown as a pair and
sometimes two separate electrons on opposite sides of the circle.

The electrons in the second energy level are drawn singly, up to a maximum of four.
After that, pair them up as necessary. It makes them much easier to count. More
importantly, it gives a much better picture of the availability of the electrons in the
atom for bonding purposes.

The structure of the periodic table

The modern periodic table

The modern extended form of the periodic table has the following features:

 Elements are arranged in groups numbers I-VII and 0.The elements in Group
0,the noble gases were discovered after Mendeleev’s table was published
 The electrons in group I have similar chemical properties .The same applies to
groups II, VII and 0.
 The first three periods are called short periods and the others are long periods.
 Across each period there is a gradual change in properties from metallic to
non-metallic
 Across periods 2 and 3 there is a similar change in physical properties such as
boiling point.
 Between the metals and the non-metals are the elements that have some
properties of both. These are called metalloids.