Experimental Techinques

1 Describe how to separate the following. In each example, give a description of the procedure used
and explain why this method works.
0620/31/O/N/15 Q 2
(a) Copper powder from a mixture containing copper and zinc powders.

procedure ..................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

explanation ................................................................................................................................

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[3]
(b) Nitrogen from a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen.

procedure ..................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

explanation ................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................
[3]

(c) Glycine from a mixture of the two amino acids glycine and alanine. Glycine has the lower Rf
value.

procedure ..................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

explanation ................................................................................................................................

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[2]

(d) Magnesium hydroxide from a mixture of magnesium hydroxide and zinc hydroxide.

procedure ..................................................................................................................................

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explanation ................................................................................................................................

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[3]
[Total: 11]
2 An important aspect of chemistry is purity and methods of purification.
0620/32/O/N/14 Q 2
(a) Give an example of substances used in everyday life which must be pure.

.............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(b) A list of techniques used to separate mixtures is given below.

chromatography crystallisation diffusion dissolving

evaporation filtration fractional distillation simple distillation

(i) From the list, choose the most suitable technique to separate the following.

water from sea-water ..........................................................................................................

helium from a mixture of helium and methane ...................................................................

ethanol from a mixture of ethanol and propanol .................................................................

iron filings from a mixture of iron filings and water .............................................................

a mixture of two amino acids, glycine and alanine .............................................................

[5]
(ii) Describe how you would obtain a pure sample of copper(II) sulfate-5-water crystals from
a mixture of copper(II) sulfate-5-water with copper(II) oxide using some of the techniques
listed above.

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................... [4]
[Total: 10]
3 A list of techniques used to separate mixtures is given below.

filtration simple distillation

0620/31/O/N/12 Q 1
diffusion crystallisation
fractional distillation chromatography
From this list, choose the most suitable technique to separate the following mixtures.
A technique may be used once, more than once or not at all.

(a) butane from a mixture of propane and butane ........................................................... [1]

 (b) oxygen from liquid air ................................................................................................. [1]

(c) water from aqueous magnesium sulfate ..................................................................... [1]

(d) potassium chloride from aqueous potassium chloride ................................................ [1]

(e) silver chloride from a mixture of silver chloride and water .......................................... [1]

(f) glucose from a mixture of glucose and maltose ......................................................... [1]

4 The following techniques are used to separate mixtures. 0620/31/M/J/11 Q 1 [Total: 6]

A simple distillation B fractional distillation C evaporation

D chromatography E filtration F diffusion

From this list, choose the most suitable technique to separate the following.

(a) methane from a mixture of the gases, methane and ethane .................. [1]

(b) water from aqueous magnesium sulfate .................. [1]

(c) glycine from a mixture of the amino acids, glycine and lysine ................... [1]

(d) iron filings from a mixture of iron filings and water .................. [1]

(e) zinc sulfate crystals from aqueous zinc sulfate .................. [1]

(f) hexane from a mixture of the liquids, hexane and octane .................. [1]
[Total: 6]
5 Strontium chloride-6-water can be made from the insoluble compound, strontium
carbonate, by the following reactions.
0620/31/O/N/12 Q 7(b)
SrCO3(s) + 2HCl (aq) SrCl 2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

SrCl 2 (aq) + 6H2O(l) SrCl 2.6H2O(s)

The following method was used to prepare the crystals.
(i) How would you know when excess strontium carbonate had been added in step 1?

....................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................. [1]
(ii) Why is it necessary to filter the mixture in step 2?

.............................................................................................................................. [1]

(iii) In step 3, why partially evaporate the filtrate rather than evaporate to dryness?

.............................................................................................................................. [1]
6 Some grass is crushed and mixed with the solvent, propanone. The colour pigments are
extracted to give a deep green solution.
0620/31/M/J/09 Q1
(a) (i) Draw a labelled diagram to describe how you could show that there is more than
one coloured pigment in the green solution.

[3]

(ii) Given a pure sample of chlorophyll, how could you show that the green solution
from the grass contained chlorophyll?

[2]

\7 A list of techniques used to separate mixtures is given below.

0620/03/O/N/07 Q 1
fractional simple
crystallization filtration diffusion
distillation distillation

From the list choose the most suitable technique to separate the following.

water from aqueous copper(II) sulphate

helium from a mixture of helium and argon

copper(II) sulphate from aqueous copper(II) sulphate

ethanol from aqueous ethanol

barium sulphate from a mixture of water and barium sulphate [5]

[Total: 5]