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doc 1 - Purification of potassium nitrate using separation methods copy

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vaneuzarachelgoncalves
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Purification of potassium nitrate

using separation methods


Purpose
You will be given an impure sample of potassium nitrate which you must purify.

The sample contains 3 solids:

 Potassium nitrate, KNO3 (s)


 Copper sulfate, CuSO4
 Solid carbon, C (s)

Before the experiment


You must have a plan for how to separate the three compounds and retain the pure potassium nitrate. To
help with this you can google and use Figure 1. Your plan must be approved by the teacher after which you
will get a written procedure to follow.

Water solubility of 2 salts at different


temperatures
300
Solubility (g/100g H2O)

250
200
150
100
50
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
degrees Celcius

CuSO4 KNO3

Figure 1: Solubility of CuSO4 (blue) and KNO3 (orange) in 100 g of water at different temperatures. Source:
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/DK/en/support/calculators-and-apps/solubility-table-compounds-water-temperature

After the experiment


Do the data processing shown in the experimental procedure and answer the discussion questions. To be
handed in as a journal (meaning you can just fill out the document).
To plan the experiment for purifying potassium nitrate (KNO₃) from the given mixture (containing copper
sulfate [CuSO₄] and solid carbon [C]), the steps should be based on the different physical properties,
particularly solubility in water at different temperatures, of these compounds. Here's a clear experimental
plan:

Step 1: Dissolution and Separation of Insoluble Carbon

- Add Water: Use distilled water to dissolve the potassium nitrate (KNO₃) and copper sulfate (CuSO₄), both
of which are soluble in water, while solid carbon (C) remains insoluble.

- Filter the Mixture: Perform filtration to remove the solid carbon from the solution. The filtrate will contain
dissolved KNO₃ and CuSO₄.

Step 2: Temperature-based Separation of KNO₃ and CuSO₄

-Heat the Filtrate: Increase the temperature of the solution to about 80–100°C. Based on the solubility data:

- At 80°C, CuSO₄ has a solubility of 53.6 g/100 g of water.

- KNO₃ has a much higher solubility of 169 g/100 g of water.

This difference in solubility allows selective precipitation at different temperatures.

- Cool the Solution: Cool the solution slowly down to room temperature (20°C) or lower. Since KNO₃ has a
higher solubility at high temperatures, it will remain dissolved while CuSO₄, which is less soluble, will begin
to crystallize and can be removed by filtration.

Step 3: Final Purification of Potassium Nitrate

-Evaporate Water: After removing CuSO₄ crystals, evaporate the remaining water from the filtrate to allow
KNO₃ to crystallize out.

- Dry the KNO₃ Crystals: Once KNO₃ has crystallized, collect the crystals and dry them to obtain pure
potassium nitrate.

Step 4: Post-Experiment Data Processing

- Weigh the recovered potassium nitrate and calculate the purity based on the initial amount of the impure
sample.

- Answer any discussion questions related to the efficiency of separation methods and solubility principles.
This plan leverages the difference in solubility of KNO₃ and CuSO₄ at different temperatures and the
insolubility of carbon to separate the components efficiently.

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