Separation of Substances

We all must have observed our parents and grandparents separating small stones or pebbles from the rice grains, pulses, filtering tea leaves before the final consumption and many other things. The practice of Separation of drugs is typically required to get rid of or separate the specified substances from their mixtures.

Have you or any other person at your home ever mixed two substances accidentally and then tried to separate them? What methods did you use to separate them? If you don't know the method of separation that you used, after going through this article, you will be able to identify the name of that process. In this article, all the different methods of separation have been discussed in a detailed manner. You will get to know which method you should use to separate - a solid from another solid, a solid from a liquid and a liquid from another liquid. From this article, you will get to learn about the different techniques with the help of which you can separate different types of mixtures. These techniques include handpicking, threshing, winnowing, sieving, filtration, evaporation, sedimentation, decantation, etc. This article will also throw some light on various tools used in the separation of mixtures. 

When you finish this article, you will get a thorough understanding of all the concepts used in this topic and you can answer any type of question that might be asked in exams. This article will act as a stepwise guide to you as it will explain all the things to you that involve the various methods of separation. 

Various Techniques Of Separation 

There are a lot of different types of methods that are used to separate different kinds of mixtures, solutions, etc. These methods are as follows: 

Chromatography 

It is the separation of a mixture when it is passed through such a medium in which the components flow at various speeds. These are either as a vapor or in solution or suspension. There's another form of chromatography that is used to separate colourable materials such as pigments, this form of chromatography is known as thin-layer chromatography. 

Evaporation

Evaporation is the process through which water is transformed into vapor. This evaporation process occurs continually in all the solutions that contain water, regardless of the surface or temperature.

Distillation

When you have to separate two or more liquids that are in pure form, you can use distillation as it is a useful technique for separating two or more pure liquids. In distillation, there is an involvement of a purification procedure in which first vaporizing is done followed by condensing and then isolating the components of a liquid combination. It is based on the principle that when you heat the mixture, the component that is most volatile evaporates at the lowest temperature. The vapor of that volatile component is then passed via a cooling tube called a condenser where it condenses back into a liquid condition.

Condensation

Condensation is the process of turning water vapor into liquid by coming into contact with a colder surface. When water boils, for example, water droplets develop on a copper lid.

Decantation

The process with the help of which, we can separate two immiscible liquids is called decantation. Pouring away the clear upper layer of liquid accomplishes this. Decantation is the process of separating a combination of oil and water as when oil and water mix, they form two different layers. Oil being the lighter one settles on the top, while water being heavy, settles at the bottom of the container. We can then pour out the top layer i.e., oil into another container. So, both water and oil are separated from each other. 

Sedimentation

The process in which solids are separated from the liquid is known as sedimentation as all of the solids sink to the bottom of the beaker and leave a clear layer of liquid on top. It is purely based on the principle that heavier particles in a solution settle down at the bottom of the container in which the mixture is contained. But the process of sedimentation is slow as It takes some time to complete. For example, in water treatment plants, impurities are separated from water with the help of this process. 

Filtration

The process with the help of which we can separate soluble and insoluble contaminants from a solution is known as filtration and it is accomplished using filter paper and is usually used to separate mud from muddy water.

Mixtures

A mixture may be a material made from two or more different substances which are mixed but aren't combined chemically.

Separation

Separation is that process of separating one or more components from a mix . Example: distillation, sedimentation, filtration etc.

Handpicking

Handpicking may be a method of separation that helps to separate large sized impurities like pieces of dirt, stone, and husk from wheat, rice or pulses.

Threshing

The process in which the grains are separated from the grains from the harvested crops by beating of stalks is called Threshing. It is done manually by farmers, or by threshing machines.

Winnowing

This method of separation is used to separate the husk from grains as it does not separate heavier and lighter components of a mix by wind or by blowing air. 

Sieving

Sieving may be a method of separation during which the mixture is skilled a filter or a sieve. The larger particles, usually the impurities, don't undergo the filter, and hence collect on the sieve. The finer particles flow past the sieve and may be collected below.

Filtration of Sedimentation and Decantation

Filtration is the process of passing the mixture through a filter to get rid of the solid particles from the fluid components of the mixture. For instance, if we pass muddy water through a fine filter, we can notice that the mud gets filtered and the water passes through.

Sedimentation

When the heavier component within the mixture settles when water is added thereto, the method is named sedimentation. This method is employed in separating grains from dust and soil.

Decantation

Decantation is the process after sedimentation that involves removing the water, along with the impurities.

Condensation

The Process of conversion of water vapor into its liquid form thanks to contact with a cooler surface is called condensation.

Example: When water droplets are formed on a metallic lid when water boils. 

Evaporation

When water is converted into vapor, that process is termed Evaporation. This process of evaporation takes place continuously wherever water is present irrespective of the surface and temperature. 

Solution

A solution may be a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances.In such a mix, a solute may be a substance dissolved in another substance, referred to as a solvent.

Saturated Solution

A saturated solution may be a chemical solution containing the utmost concentration of a solute dissolved within the solvent.

For example, a saturated solution of salt in water is that during which no more salt is often dissolved.

This added salt will just sediment right down to the rock bottom of the vessel.

Churning

Churning is the process of shaking up cream or milk to form butter.