Separation of Mixtures by Sieving
A sieve is a shallow container with small holes at the bottom. In some cases, an iron mesh can also be used as a sieve. Sieving is the process of parting a mixture using a sieve. Sieving is used to separate solid mixtures that contain components of varying sizes.
The mixture, which contains components of varying sizes, is placed in a sieve, and the sieve is continuously moved back and forth. The larger particles of the mixture cannot pass through the sieve’s small holes and thus remain trapped in the sieve.
The mixture separates into two components: one with small particles and one with larger particles. The size of the sieve’s holes is determined by the size of the particles of the material to be separated from the mixture. Different substances are separated using sieves with varying sizes of holes.
- Wheat brought from the fields still contains impurities such as stones, stalks, and husks. Impurities are removed from wheat before grinding in a flour mill via a sieving process. A bag of wheat is poured through an iron mesh slanting sieve. The wheat grains pass through the Sieve, leaving behind pieces of stone, talk, and husk.
- Sieving is used to obtain fine sand. Coarse sand with larger particles and pebbles is placed on a sieve made of a large iron held in a slanting position. Fine sand particles pass through the iron mesh but are left behind.
- Sieving is also used to separate similar objects of varying sizes. Cashew nuts of various sizes are separated in cashew nut factories through the sieving process.
Separation of Mixtures
Separation of Mixtures or method of separation is the process of separating or extracting different components of a mixture using some physical methods. The type of mixture and variations in the chemical characteristics of the mixture’s components determine the separation method to be used. Separation of mixtures is often needed to get rid of unwanted or harmful components and to separate the useful components from the non-useful ones. Some of the methods of the mixtures explained in detail in this article are Filtration, Hand-picking, Threshing, Winnowing, Sieving, Sedimentation and decantation, Magnetic separation, Centrifugation, Evaporation, Distillation, and many more.
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