Question

Which separation technique will you apply for the separation of the following mixture?

Small pieces of metal from the engine oil of car

Answer 1

The separation technique applied for the separation of small pieces of metal from the engine oil of car is filtration.

Filtration: The process of separating the insoluble particles of a mixture (small metal pieces here) from the liquid part (engine oil here) of the mixture by using a filter paper.

• Example: Tea leaves from tea, filtration of precipitates in various chemical reactions.

Principle involved in the separation of mixture:

• When passed through the filter paper, insoluble small pieces being larger in size than the pores of the filter paper do not pass through it whereas liquid part of the mixture can easily pass through the filter paper.

However, a filter paper with a suitable size of pores should be chose to carry out filtration process properly.