Question

How would you separate a mixture of copper (II) oxide and copper (II) sulphate?

Answer 1

Hint: in nature, the substances exist as pure substances or in the form of mixtures. When two or more substances mix they form a mixture. The mixtures can be homogeneous and nonhomogeneous based on the properties of the intermixing substances. The mixture can be separated based on the properties that the mixture shows.

Complete step by step answer:
The substances either exist as pure matter or in the form of substance. The properties of the final mixture and the intermixing substance decide how the mixture can be processed.
The substance in the small quantity is the solute while the substance in the larger quantity is the solvent. After the formation of the mixture, there are various methods for the separation of the mixtures to retrieve the original substances which were used for the formation of the mixture.
Every separation method has a specific principle and works to do. So to separate different mixtures of substances the process must be followed in a specific manner.
For the separation of salt from the mixture of salt and sand, we may follow the specific methods in the same order
Copper oxide is found to be slightly nonpolar and owing to this property is not soluble in water whereas polar copper sulphate is completely soluble in water. Hence, for the separation of copper oxide and copper sulphate, we need to dissolve the mixture in distilled water. The filtrate should then be evaporated till the solution is saturated. The saturated solution when cooled may result in the formation of copper sulphate crystals.

Note: The separation process is based on the difference in the way in which the substituent substances react to the separation method.
There are various methods for the separation of the mixture ranging from the physical methods of sieving, winnowing to the chemical methods of fractional distillation.