Introduction To Winnowing

What is Winnowing?

In everyday life, we use a number of mixtures and the need for the separation of useful components from the mixture often arises. The separation of substances can be done through various methods like hand-picking, threshing, sieving, winnowing, etc. The term ‘separation’ can refer to the separation of stones from rice, the separation of bran from flour, etc. It is done to remove impurities and to get a useful product.

In this article, we will discuss how particles are separated using the method of winnowing.

Winnowing is the method in which heavier components of the mixture are separated from the lighter substances with the help of wind. This method is used for separating grains from husk after the process of threshing.

Threshing is the process of separating grain from the chaff. In this process, a mixture of wheat and husk is dropped from a height. After that, the husk is carried by the wind and forms a heap at some distance away. The husk being lighter is carried away by the wind and forms a different heap.

The heavier particle (wheat grains) forms a separate heap as it falls vertically downward. To separate dirt from pulses, we add water to pulses. Dirt will get dissolved in water and husk will float on top because it is lighter and pulse grains will settle down.

Advantages of Winnowing

This method doesn’t require any machines for its functioning. It is completely based on human activity and hence it takes less time to process and definitely very cheap.

Disadvantages of Winnowing

Winnowing is defined as a method in which heavier components of the mixture are separated from the lighter substances with the help of wind but this process does not work for materials heavier than grains like stones.

This was just a brief layout of one of the separation techniques of substances i.e. winnowing. To know more about other methods of separation, download BYJU’S – The Learning App.