Separation of Components of a Mixture of Ammonium Chloride, salt and sand

Separation of Components of a Mixture of Ammonium Chloride, salt and sand

            The components are selected because of the changes in states of liquids, solids, and gas.

The three components can clearly illustrate the three-process used in separation, namely Sublimation (the process of transforming solid to a gas without passing the liquid state), filtration and Evaporation.

Materials required are Bunsen burner, china dish, tripod stand, a wire gauze, cotton, glass funnel, beaker, glass rod, clamp stand and filter paper.

Chemicals required are Sand, Common salt, ammonium chloride and distilled water.

The procedure for Separating Ammonium Chloride (Sublimation)

1. a wire gauze placed over a tripod stand.
2. Add the mixture to the china dish and put onto the wire gauze.
3. An inverted glass funnel placed on top of the dish and cover the hole of the funnel with cotton.
4. Heat the mixture with a burner until it releases white fumes.
5. Turn off the burner to allow the fumes to cool inside the funnel.
6. Remove the funnel to collect the solid ammonium chloride.
7. The process repeated until fumes are no longer produced when the mixture is heated.

Sedimentation and Filtration Procedure

1. The mixture left is transferred to a beaker.
2. Add sufficient water to dissolve the mixture, stir the mixture with a glass rod and then let the sand settle on the surface.
3. Make a cone using a paper and place it inside a glass funnel. Clip the funnel to the stand and place a beaker under it.
4. Slowly pour the solution and let it drop into the beaker.
5. After the process is done dry the sand on the filter

Evaporation procedure

1. The filtrate collected is poured into a china dish and then placed on the tripod stand under a burner.
2. The solution is heated until the water evaporates.
3. Salt is collected in the dish after the water evaporates.

Results

In the mixture, ammonium chloride is the sublimating component, on heating the mixture it changes to a gaseous state and the forms are cooled to collect the solid sublimate.

After collecting the sublime, the mixture is dissolved in water, and the process of Sedimentation allows sand to settle on the bottom of the solution.

The solution is filtered to separate the sand particulars from the solution.

The solution of salt and water is heated to evaporate the water.

Conclusion

The results meet the expectation on the experiment but the quantity of sublime different from the original amount of ammonium chloride, because of the heating process not converting the complete sublime to a gaseous state.