Separation of Mixtures of Solids Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Separation of Mixtures of Solids - Lab Report Example As can be seen, the total weight of the mixture’s components after separation was less than the initial weight of the mixture. Specifically, a total of 39% of the weights were lost during the experiment. The calculation of which is elaborated below. CALCULATIONS The calculation of the percent loss was as follows: CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION As demonstrated, separation of a mixture of solids into its components can be done by taking advantage of the innate differences of the characteristics of each of the components. Iron is the only metal component of the four, and this was taken advantage of in the use of magnet. By exposing the mixture to the magnet, it was ensured that only iron fillings would be able to attach to the magnet. On the other hand, unlike sand, benzoic acid and salt are both water soluble, and their solubility was increased by heating the solvent, ensuring that benzoic acid and salt can be dissolved. Next, since benzoic acid is less soluble than salt, it crystallized at cooler temperatures of the aqueous solution. The salt was then transformed back to its solid form by allowing water to evaporate (Masterton and Hurley, 2004). QUESTIONS A. How did your proposed procedures or flow charts at the beginning of this experiment compare to the actual procedures of this lab exercise? In my proposed procedure, I planned to separate the salt and benzoic acid instead by adding water and boiling the mixture. The resulting solution will then be cooled to precipitate out the benzoic acid, and the remaining liquid will be allowed to evaporate until only the salt remains. To the remaining mixture of supposedly iron and sand, it will be exposed to a magnet to attract the iron and leave the sand behind. B. Discuss potential advantages or disadvantages of your proposed procedure compared to the one actually used. Although the principle is the same, I feel that my proposed flowchart poses some disadvantages as that compared to the instructions. First, boiling water may have corrosive effects on the iron, making them weak enough to break into pieces that may contaminate the sand that will remain after all the separation techniques. Second, the weight of the iron may be overestimated, as it may get wet because of the exposure to liquid that might not be totally dried out during the procedure. C. How would you explain a sand recovery percentage that is higher than the original sand percentage? Sand, especially when it is composed mostly of clay, tends to sip in water that may add onto the weight of the sand. D. What were potential sources of error in this experiment? What I think mostly contributed to the relatively large percentage loss was the weighing. Probably, a few particles remained on the weighing dish every time weighing was done during the experiment. Thus, all of the components were most likely underestimated in this experiment. Other sources of error include not completely drying out the water before weighing the solids; not complete ly magnetizing out the iron, overestimating the weight of sand; not completely precipitating out benzoic acid when the benzoic acid + salt solution is exposed to cooler temperatures, thus underestimating the weight of benzoic acid and overestimating the weight of salt; and not completely evaporating the fluid, thus overestimating the weight of salt. References Masteron, W. L. and Hurley, C. N. (2004). Chemistry: Principles and Reactions. 4th ed.