COMMON LABORATORY OPERATIONS II
Experiment No. 4
Objectives: At the end of the experiment, the students are expected to have developed the
following competencies:
1. demonstrate proper techniques in
a. transferring solids from one container to the other;
b. heating liquid in a test tube and other glasswares;
c. separating homogeneous and heterogeneous substances;
2. define the following terms:
a. Pure Substance f. Precipitate
b. Homogeneous mixture g. Filtration
c. Heterogeneous mixture h. Evaporation
d. Filtrate i. Decantation
e. Residue j. Precipitation
e. Supernatant liquid
APPARATUS AND MATERIALS :
Electric stove/Bunsen burner, tripod, wire gauze, glass rod, beakers, 3 test tubes with labels in
a test tube rack, test tube holder, Erlenmeyer flask, funnel, evaporating dish, watch glass, filter
paper, 5.0 ml of 0.1 M ferric chloride solution ( ), 6.0ml of 0.5 M sodium hydroxide
solution
( ), wash bottle, distilled water.
PROCEDURE:
I. Transferring Solid Chemicals
1. Get a piece of clean paper. Measure the length of the paper with the height of the test tube
plus two (2) cm allowance. The width of the paper should be slightly wider than the diameter of
the test tube. Fold it lengthwise.
2. Place table salt in a small beaker. Scoop the salt with the top edge of the opened folded
lengthwise paper. Hold the test tube in a horizontal position then insert the paper into the test
tube until it touches the bottom. Incline the test tube and tap the paper gently. In this way, the
solid is deposited at the bottom of the test tube and not along the sides.
3. Show the paper and the test tube with the reagent to your instructor.
II. Heating liquids Fig. 2
1. Fill the test tube with water up to one-third of its capacity. Hold the test tube using
the test tube holder. Hold the test tube at an angle of 45° and heat its content by
passing it back and forth over the flame. Never look directly into the test tube nor
point it towards anyone. Never heat at the bottom. Why? Do not cover the test tube
with a rubber or cork stopper while heating. The test tube might break due to built-up
pressure. Please refer to Fig. 2.
2. To heat a test tube that is mounted on an iron stand, hold the
burner and pass the flame underneath. The test tube is always
clamped at the upper portion.
3. Use a beaker or a flask when heating a large amount of liquid. Wire
gauze is placed over an iron ring to prevent direct heating. Glass
wares like beakers, flasks, and the evaporating dish should not be
heated directly. What is the purpose of the wire gauze? If an iron
clamp is used to hold the container; it Fig. 3
should not be fastened too tightly to prevent breakage. Glass expands when heated. Please
refer to Fig.3.
III. Separation Techniques For Substances
A. Pure Substances. Precipitation Method.
1. Add 5 ml of sodium hydroxide to 5 ml of ferric chloride solution. Observe. Allow the solid
formed to settle down. This is a precipitate.
2. Add a few more drops of sodium hydroxide to test for complete precipitation. If more
precipitates are formed allow them to settle. Again add more drops of sodium hydroxide
solution until no more precipitate is formed.
3. Reserve the mixture for IIIB-1.
4. Write the chemical equation of the reaction with complete notations and colors. Draw
the set-up and label the parts. Name the precipitate and indicate its color.
B. Heterogeneous Mixtures (Solid and Liquid)
B-1. Gravity Filtration.
1. Fit your funnel in your Erlenmeyer flask but not airtight. Why?
2. Prepare a filter paper by folding it in halves. (Please see Figs. 4)
3. Again, fold this in another halves.
4. Open the folded paper such that you have a cone with one fold on one side and three folds
on the other side.
5. Tear off a small portion of paper at the edge of the protruding overlap.
5. Moisten the paper with water so that it fits snugly into the funnel. The
rim of the filter paper should be lower than
the rim of the funnel. What is filtration?
Define a filtrate.
6. Using a glass rod as your guide, carefully
pour the mixture reserved in IV-A to the
center of the filter paper on the funnel. Be
careful not to pour too fast so as not let the mixture
overflow to the sides of the filter paper. A
clear liquid should pass through the filter
paper. This is the filtrate. Observe. Reserve
the filtrate for the evaporation process.
7. What do you call the solid remaining on the
filter paper? Reserve this set-up for the
decantation process.
B-2. Decantation.
Decantation is done by carefully pouring the supernatant liquid into a container taking care not
to include the precipitate.
Practice decantation using the residue left on the filter paper reserved in filtration procedure no.
7. Do not touch the residue. Use the following technique:
1. Fit the reserved funnel with the filter paper obtained to a test tube standing in test tube rack.
2. Pierce the bottom of the filter paper on the funnel using the tip of the glass rod.
3. Wash the residue with distilled water using the wash bottle letting the solid particles slide
through the hole to the test tube. Allow the insoluble solid (precipitate) to settle down until a
clear liquid forms at the top of the solid.
4. Pour out slowly or decant the supernatant liquid being careful not to include the precipitate.
5. Compare the extent of separation of the solid and the liquid in the two processes (filtration
and decantation).
6. Rinse the precipitate with distilled water and decant again. The precipitate can be thrown to
the waste basket and the liquid in the sink.
7. Is decantation an effective way of separating this type of mixture? Cite an example where
decantation is more effective to use.
C. Homogeneous Mixtures. (Solution)
Evaporation.
1. Transfer the filtrate you reserve in operation B-1.6 into an evaporating dish. Place the
evaporating dish on a heater or a bunsen flame. The evaporating dish can be placed directly on
the coils of the heater. If a Bunsen flame is used, follow the process in heating a beaker using a
tripod this time using the evaporating dish in place of the beaker. Cover it with a watch glass.
Evaporate slowly by adjusting the amount of flame in the burner/heater. Wear your eye goggles
as you wait for the water to evaporate completely. Do not over heat. The solid that will remain
in the evaporating dish is generally called residue. What is the name of the residue? What
is the liquid that adheres on the watch glass? Where did this come from?
Enumerate the methods of separating homogeneous and heterogeneous substances.
