GCSE · Chemistry · AQA · Spec 8462

Formulations

Sea water and washing-up liquid are both mixtures. Only one of them was designed, and that difference is what makes something a formulation.

Sort the shelf

A mixture? A designed product? Or both?

Read what each substance is and where it comes from. Tick every set it belongs to: A, B, both, or neither.

A A mixture: two or more substances, not chemically combined
B Designed as a useful product: made on purpose, for a job

Petrol: a blend of different hydrocarbons plus small amounts of additives, made for car engines
Sea water: water with salts dissolved in it, straight from the ocean
Washing-up liquid: detergent, water, colouring and fragrance, sold for cleaning dishes
Copper for electrical wires: purified until it is copper and nothing else
Gloss paint: pigment, binder and solvent, made for coating wood
Painkiller tablet: a measured dose of the drug, pressed together with ingredients that hold the tablet in shape
Crude oil: a mixture of many hydrocarbons that formed naturally underground
Brass: copper and zinc melted together in chosen amounts to make a metal harder than copper
Distilled water for a steam iron: only water, with everything else removed
Garden fertiliser: compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium mixed in measured amounts
Packet cake mix: flour, sugar and raising agent, measured out and sold ready to bake

Inside a formulation

Every part of the mix has a job

Showing 1 layer: Paint tin

Explore

tap a part of the mix

Paint looks like one smooth liquid, but it is a mixture of several substances. Suppose the information given with this tin lists four components and says what each one is for. Select a part of the mix to read it.

Select a component to read what the information given with this paint says it is for.

Predict, then check

The paint above is made to a recipe that fixes how much of each component goes in.

At the factory, one batch of this paint is made with twice the planned amount of one of its components. Everything else is measured correctly. What happens to that batch?

What do you think?

What is a formulation, really?

Brass, paint and cake mix are each made to a recipe that fixes the amount of every ingredient.

Which of these is closest to what you think a formulation is?

It's a compound. The amounts are fixed, and fixed amounts mean the substances have joined together chemically.It's a mixture designed as a useful product. Its components are measured out and mixed, but not chemically combined.It's any mixture. If more than one substance is there, it counts.It's just a word for a food recipe. It isn't really chemistry.

How sure are you?

I'm sureI think soI'm guessing

It's a compound. The amounts are fixed, and fixed amounts mean the substances have joined together chemically.

This is a common misconception

Compounds do have fixed proportions, but that is because their elements are chemically combined. In a formulation the amounts are fixed by a recipe, not by bonding: the maker chose them and could choose different ones. The components are only mixed, so each keeps its own properties.

It's a mixture designed as a useful product. Its components are measured out and mixed, but not chemically combined.

This matches the evidence

Yes. The measured amounts give the product its properties, but mixing does not join the components chemically. Each one keeps its own properties, which is how each one can do its own job in the product.

It's any mixture. If more than one substance is there, it counts.

This is a common misconception

Sea water and crude oil are mixtures, but nobody chose what is in them or how much. A formulation must also have been designed as a useful product.

It's just a word for a food recipe. It isn't really chemistry.

This is a common misconception

Foods are one kind of formulation, but fuels, medicines, paints and alloys are formulations too. Choosing which substances to mix, and how much of each, so that a product has the properties it needs is chemistry.

A formulation is a designed mixture: its components are measured out for the product's properties, but they are mixed, not chemically combined.

Your turn to explain

Is it a formulation?

Product X is a liquid sold for cleaning windows. Its label lists four ingredients: water; a detergent, which lifts grease; an alcohol, which helps the glass dry quickly without streaks; and a blue dye. Every batch is made by mixing these in fixed, measured amounts.

Is Product X a formulation? Use the information to explain your answer. [4 marks]

Your answer

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

The mark scheme

It is a mixture: several substances mixed together, not chemically combined. (1 mark)
It has been designed as a useful product (for cleaning windows). (1 mark)
Each ingredient has a particular purpose, with an example from the label (e.g. the detergent lifts grease). (1 mark)
The ingredients are mixed in measured amounts so that the product has the properties it needs. (1 mark)

Model answer

Yes, Product X is a formulation. It is a mixture of four substances that are mixed, not chemically combined. It has been designed as a useful product, for cleaning windows. Each ingredient has a particular purpose: for example, the detergent lifts grease and the alcohol helps the glass dry without streaks. The ingredients are mixed in fixed, measured amounts so that the cleaner has the properties it needs.

Say yes or no, then prove it with the definition: a mixture, designed as a useful product, each component with a purpose, mixed in measured amounts. Use the details you are given as your evidence.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Paint, medicines, fuels and foods are all mixtures, but not accidental ones. Each one is designed, with every ingredient chosen for a job and measured out.

What you need to know

A formulation is a mixture that has been designed as a useful product.
Many products are complex mixtures in which each chemical has a particular purpose.
Formulations are made by mixing the components in carefully measured quantities to ensure that the product has the required properties.
The components of a formulation are mixed, not chemically combined, so a formulation is not a compound.
Formulations include fuels, cleaning agents, paints, medicines, alloys, fertilisers and foods.

The big picture

A formulation is a mixture that has been designed as a useful product. Many products are complex mixtures in which each chemical has a particular purpose. Formulations are made by mixing the components in carefully measured quantities to ensure that the product has the required properties; the components are mixed, not chemically combined, so a formulation is not a compound. Formulations include fuels, cleaning agents, paints, medicines, alloys, fertilisers and foods. To identify a formulation from information, check two things: is it a mixture, and was it designed as a useful product?

Key points

1Two tests, both needed: it is a mixture AND it was designed as a useful product.

2A natural mixture, such as sea water or crude oil, is not a formulation.

3A useful pure substance, such as copper for wiring, is not a formulation.

4Every component has a job, and each is added in a measured amount.

5Fixed amounts come from the recipe, not from bonding: mixed, not combined.

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Worked example

Problem

Use the information to decide which of these is a formulation. P: solder, a mixture of tin and other metals melted together in measured amounts to make a metal that melts easily, used for joining wires. Q: granite, a rock made of several different minerals, cut from a quarry and used for kitchen worktops.

⚠ Watch out

Calling any mixture a formulation, or calling a formulation a compound because its amounts are fixed. A formulation is a mixture designed as a useful product; its components are measured out, but they are mixed, not chemically combined.

🧠

Memory hook

Formulation = mixture + design. Right ingredients, right jobs, right amounts.

✓

Check yourself

Without looking back: write the definition of a formulation. Then give one example of a mixture that is not a formulation, one useful product that is not a formulation, and say why each one fails.

Flashcards

(8)

What is a formulation?

A mixture that has been designed as a useful product.

What is true of each chemical in a complex mixture such as a formulation?

Each chemical has a particular purpose: a job to do in the product.

Why are the components of a formulation mixed in carefully measured quantities?

To ensure that the product has the required properties.

Name the kinds of product that formulations include.

Fuels, cleaning agents, paints, medicines, alloys, fertilisers and foods.

Sea water is a mixture. Why is it not a formulation?

It formed naturally. It was never designed as a useful product.

Copper wire is a useful product. Why is it not a formulation?

It is a single element, not a mixture.

Are the components of a formulation chemically combined?

No. They are mixed, so each keeps its own properties and can do its own job.

What can happen if one component of a formulation is added in the wrong amount?

The product may no longer have the properties it was designed for.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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A mixture? A designed product? Or both?

What is a formulation, really?

Is it a formulation?

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