Separating Mixtures Criteria D and F You have been given a mixture of salt, sand, and iron filings.

Using your knowledge of separation of mixtures, figure out how to separate all three components of the mechanical mixture, while retaining all components. Aim: What methods are necessary to separate and retain all components of a mechanical mixture? What is the purpose of the experiment? To spate the mixtures of sand, salt and iron. To retain all components. Hypothesis: (make sure to explain with SCIENTIFIC REASONING) Example: If I use filtration, I can separate the curds and whey in the milk, because the curds will form a residue on the filter paper as their molecules are too big to pass through the paper, and the whey will become the filtrateetc.) If I use a filter paper to the sand, salt and iron. The salt will filter through it and it will eventually dissolve. Than I use the magnet to separate the iron from the sand. Materials: (make a list of all the materials you will need for this lab. Make sure to include how much of each one you need!) Test tube 3 beakers (small) Test tube rack Iron, salt and sand Measuring cylinder Big Beaker Filter paper Stirring rod Magnet Filter Funnel Paper Procedure: (Write down the steps to do the lab. Make sure it is in third person, and your grandma could follow it, if she needed too). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Measure the mass of sand, salt and iron before the experiment Separate the iron using magnet, put a paper under the magnet Put 100ml of water to the beaker with sand and salt Stir the beaker for a while and I will get salt water with sand Filter the salt water with sand Then I put the salt water into a beaker

7. I heat the salt water with a heat plate or busen burner until the water evaporates 8. Measure all the mass at the end to check if I separate it all Observations: (make a table to help record your observations. You can take pictures of each step in the lab to show how you separate the materials as well) Mass Salt Sand Iron Before 11.0g 8.1 3.6 After 9g 7.9g 4g (salt mix in it)

Observation: The iron got heavier because when I separate the iron from the sand and salt some of the sand gets stuck on and comes with the iron and it makes the iron heavier. Results: 1. Explain what you did in the experiment. I separate sand, salt and iron using different materials 2. Was your hypothesis correct? Why or Why not? (Were the methods that you chose correct?) Yes, it was correct because it ended up as what I expected in my hypothesis. Discussion: 1. What component of the mixture did you separate first? Why? Iron because it was the easiest mixture to be separate. 2. How did you ensure that the maximum amount of each component of the mixture was retained (kept?) I recorded the mass of each mixture before and after it was mixed and the results were the same. 3. Check with one other person in the class; did they use the same separation techniques as you? Why or Why not? I checked with Peter, he had the same techniques as me. He has the same steps as me. But he did not record masses but he used pictures instead.

4. Using your knowledge of the particle theory of matter, explain why your procedure worked to separate and retain the components of the mixture? The salt is a homogenous. it is soluble. So you can mix it in water so it becomes salt water and filter it and only the salt water would go through and it would left you the sand and iron. Separate the iron using the magnet, which is attracted to all ironic and magnetic things. All 3 mixtures has been separated. Conclusion: 1. What were some errors that occurred in your experiment? a. When I weighted it, there was still some water left. It has not fully evaporated. b. When I use the magnet to separate the iron it catch some sand. c. I weight the filter paper with the sand.

2. Suggest some improvements that you could make to your method (procedure and materials). Make sure these improvements are REAL improvements: Example: I would make sure to use distlled water next time, in order to make sure that there were no dissolved solutes in the water, therefore making my salt more pure. a. I could have heated it more until it fully evaporated. b. I could have shake and made sure that there was no sand catch to the iron. c. Weight the filter paper without sand and then weight filter paper with sand and subtract the mass you got from the filter paper with sand with the filter paper without sand.