Choose the separation method sim
Get a mixture card, drag the right apparatus onto the bench in order, and see whether it works: filtration, evaporation, crystallisation, distillation, fractional distillation, a separating funnel, chromatography, a magnet or sublimation, chosen from the substances' properties.
Experimental chemistry: methods of purification · covers the O-Level, IGCSE, GCSE topic
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Free guide: 12 practicals as sims, and how to run one in a lesson →
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More chemistry sims
- Earth's early atmosphere simDrag a timeline from 4.6 billion years ago to today and watch the oceans, algae, plants, limestone and coal appear; once the oceans form, carbon dioxide falls and oxygen rises; record readings and graph them.
- Methane and chlorine in UV light simShine a UV lamp on methane and chlorine in a graduated tube over water: with no UV nothing happens; with it the chlorine fades, oily drops form, the water rises, and CH₃Cl, then CH₂Cl₂, CHCl₃ and CCl₄ build up.
- Nanoparticles: surface area to volume simDrag a slider to cut a cube into smaller and smaller cubes, record the surface area and volume, and plot SA:V against 1/a to see why nanoparticles behave differently.
- Ozone layer and CFCs simOpen a CFC valve under a model atmosphere, let the years pass, and watch chlorine atoms thin the ozone layer and the UV index at the ground climb; then close the valve and see how slowly it recovers.
- Plastic waste and recycling simDrag six plastics to landfill, the sea, an incinerator, a pellet-making machine or a depolymerising reactor, and see what really happens, with the carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride from burning worked out from balanced equations.
- Transition elements against Group 1 simWeigh cubes of sodium, iron and copper, turn pale green iron(II) yellow-brown with hydrogen peroxide, and time how iron(III) oxide and copper(II) oxide speed up oxygen from hydrogen peroxide while sodium chloride does nothing.