Practice Mixture Separation in Chemistry
Use these practice problems to test your method after reviewing the concept explanation and worked examples.
Quick Recap
Physical methods used to isolate the individual components of a mixture by exploiting differences in their physical properties such as particle size, boiling point, density.
Different substances have different properties — use those differences to pull them apart. Heavy things sink, liquids evaporate at different temperatures.
Showing a random 20 of 50 problems.
Example 1
easyWhich method separates oil floating on water?
Example 2
easyWhat method separates dyes in marker ink using paper and solvent?
Example 3
easyWhich method recovers dissolved salt from salt water?
Example 4
mediumCrude oil enters a fractional distillation column at the bottom. Why are lighter fractions collected near the top?
Example 5
hardOutline a procedure to recover pure copper from a mixture of copper filings, iron filings, and sand.
Example 6
mediumA solution of KCl in water is evaporated to dryness. What mass of solid KCl is left?
Example 7
mediumTrue or false: a chemical change occurs during physical mixture separation.
Example 8
challengeDesign a procedure to separate sand, salt, iron filings, and sawdust from one mixture.
Example 9
easyWhich method separates heavier solid particles from lighter ones by spinning at high speed?
Example 10
easyWhich simple method recovers clear water from a sample with settled mud at the bottom?
Example 11
easyFill in: distillation separates liquids by differences in their ____ points.
Example 12
mediumSea water is salty. Describe how distillation can produce drinkable fresh water from it.
Example 13
mediumYou need to separate small stones from a flour-and-stones mixture. Which property and method would you use?
Example 14
mediumDescribe a step-by-step procedure to separate a mixture of sand, salt, and iron filings. Identify the physical property exploited at each step.
Example 15
mediumA mixture has powdered iron, salt, and sawdust. Suggest a property-based step to remove each.
Example 16
mediumWhat property does sieving exploit to separate sand from gravel?
Example 17
mediumCrude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons with different boiling points. Which method separates them, and on what property?
Example 18
easyWhich method separates the colored pigments in ink?
Example 19
mediumCan evaporation separate two miscible liquids? Why or why not?
Example 20
hardCrude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons with different boiling points. Explain how fractional distillation is used to separate crude oil into useful fractions, and name three fractions obtained.