Seperation Techniques

 One of the distinctive properties of a mixture of substance is that it is possible to separate the constituents by physical means. There are many physical method used to separate a wide variety of mixture. The particular method employed for a given mixture depends on the properties of the constituents such as solubility difference, rate of movement over an absorbent medium, boil point, sublimation, rate of diffusion and magnetic property present.
               Types of Separation Techniques
1. Sieving: This is the method of separating solid particles of different sizes e.g mining, cassava production and pap production.

2. Decantation: This is the method used to separate a mixture of liquid and denser solid particle which separate into two distinct layers, on standing the upper layer of the mixture which is a clear liquid is carefully poured into another container leaving the denser particle(sediments) in the bottom of the container.

3. Filtration: This is the method of separating insoluble solid particle from liquid by allowing the liquid to pass through a porous material know as filter paper. During filtration, the liquid portion pass through the filter paper while the solid material remains on the filter paper, E.g the mixture of sand and water. The liquid which passes through the filter paper is called filtrate while the remaining particles on the filter paper is called residue.

4. Evaporation: This is the method of separating a solid solute from a solution by heating the solution to dryness, so that the liquid portion with a lower vapor pressure than the solid is removed from the solid portion. E.g salt solution when applying heat.

5. Distillation: This is used to recover solvent from a solution. It is the process of vaporizing a liquid and then condensing it back to liquid. Condensation is the process of cooling a vapor to liquid.