Mixture Separation

Connor Boyster
August 29, 2013
Mrs. Goode
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Mixture Separation

Purpose/Objective:
The purpose of this lab is to determine how difficult it is to separate different items from a

mixture. It should be possible to remove each component by looking at their various

properties.

Prediction/Hypothesis:
The various components will be removed fairly easily by utilizing the properties of each. These

properties include buoyancy, solubility, and magnetism.

Materials Needed:

 Test tubes

 Peachery dish

 Water

 Dropper

 Scoopula

 Sand

 Poppy seeds

 Iron filings

 Magnet

 Salt

 Funnel
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Mixture Separation

 Filter paper

 Stirring rod

Safety Precautions:
Because glass items were used, closed-toed shoes were a necessity.

Procedure:
First, the mixture was poured onto a napkin. A magnet was then used to remove the iron filings

from the mixture. Then the mixture was poured into a peachery dish filled with water. After

being stirred well, the poppy seeds were removed from the surface of the water using the

scoopula. Then filter paper was placed inside the funnel and the funnel into a test tube. The

entire mixture was poured into the funnel and allowed to drain. The filter paper was removed,

and the lab area was cleaned.

Data Collected/Observations:
It was difficult to get every last iron filing. A few seemed to move but not enough to be drawn to

the magnet completely. Of all the poppy seeds, a couple did not float, which made them much

harder to remove from the mixture.

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Mixture Separation

Charts/Graphs:

Properties Sand Iron Filings Salt Poppy Seeds

Dissolves X
Floats X
Magnetic X

Conclusion:
The experiment did not go as smoothly as thought. Certain factors including the amount of water

in the peachery dish could cause the separation of components to become a complete failure.

Having too little water made removing the poppy seeds extremely difficult. In addition, the sand

was very hard to remove from the dish when it came time to pour the mixture into the funnel.

This nearly made the entire experiment a failure. Therefore, my hypothesis was not correct. It is

not easy to separate mixtures. It is a tedious and time-consuming process.