Separating Mixtures Lab

Today we did a lab on the topic of mixtures. The day before the lab we were given a sheet for homework to make a procedure in order to separate the mixture into the three different components and find how much of each component is in it. The mixture contained sand, iron, and salt. Most classmates came up with the idea of using a magnet to get iron out of the mixture since iron is magnetic. Before we removed the iron, we measured the weight of the magnet and the weight with the iron on it. To find the weight of the iron, we just simply subtracted the weight of the magnet from the magnet with iron. After that we needed to find a way to separate the sand and salt. Since salt can be dissolved in water, thats what we proceeded to do. To do this, we could use a piece of filter paper. We took the weight of the dry piece before we continued. Then, we folded a circular piece of filter paper in half twice, the splitting the base so it takes the form of a cone. After that, we got it slightly damp and placed it upside down into a funnel.We then put the remains of the mixture into the funnel and applied small amounts of water until it fully dissolved the salt. We carefully removed the funnel and unfolded it so the remaining sand was in the center. Then we placed the wet filter paper with the sand on a hot plate and turned it up slightly. After waiting for about 3 minutes, the filter paper was fully dried and we could weigh the sand and filter paper together. We subtracted the weight of the dry filter paper from the filter paper with the sand on it. To find the last content of the measurement which was salt, we added the weight of the iron and sand then subtracted that from the total weight.

The next scribe will be.......Katie Hauldren........