Question

centrifugation can be used only if one of the components of a mixture is heavier than the other. Give reasson

Answer 1

Different separation techniques are present depending on the property of the substances to be separated.

• Centrifugation is a separation technqiue which uses the principle "density difference of the components".
• When the mixture of components having different density, rotated (or spun) using a centrifugal machine the denser particles forced to move radially outward and lighter particles to move to the center.
• Milk is a colloid, where the fat globules are dispersed in the medium (water).
• We can separate cream from milk using centrifugation technique.
• The particles which are small in size (i.e which can not separate using ordinary filter paper) separated using this process.
• A simple centrifuge (in the laboratory) has a vertical shaft carrying four or more test tube holders where the mixture is put for rotation.
• The centrifugal force acts on the particles and forced lighter particles to move to the center and denser particles to move radially outward.

Thus we can say that centrifugation can be used only if one of the components of a mixture is heavier than the other