SAT II Chemistry Exam Prep

Category - General Chemistry

The products of a chemical reaction are solid zinc carbonate and aqueous sodium chloride. Which of the following procedures will achieve the best separation of the mixture into its three components?
  1. Filtering the mixture and then distilling the filtrate.
  2. Crystallizing the mixture and then decanting the aqueous portion.
  3. Centrifuging the mixture and then crystallizing the supernatant.
  4. Distilling the mixture and then centrifuging the distillate.
Explanation
Correct Response: A. Filtering the mixture will result in separation of the solid zinc carbonate from the aqueous sodium chloride. Distillation of the aqueous sodium chloride mixture will result in the water being boiled off and collected as the distillate, with the sodium chloride left behind because its boiling point is considerably higher than that of water. B is incorrect because crystallization separates one solid from one liquid in which it is dissolved. C is incorrect because centrifugation would simply cause the zinc carbonate to move to the bottom of a test tube. Crystallizing the supernatant is unlikely to work well because sodium chloride is extremely water soluble over a wide range of concentrations. D is incorrect because distillation would result in water being separated from the zinc carbonate and the sodium chloride. The distillate will contain only water, and centrifugation will not produce further separation.
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