Separation Lab

Purpose: To successfully separate a mixture of iron filings, poppy seeds, sand, and salt using the lab equipment provided.

Hypothesis: In order to separate the iron filings we need to use a magnet. To separate the sand and poppy seeds we need to mix the remaining mixture with water and filter it, the poppy seeds will float and we will be able to remove them with a spoon. We can then scoop the wet sand into a separate cup and boil the salt out of the salt water.

Procedure: First we dragged the magnet through the mixture to remove the iron filings. Next, we added water in order to filter the sand and poppy seeds. We folded the filter paper and placed it in the funnel, then we poured the mixture through the filter. This resulted in the poppy seeds and sand staying in the filter, as they were too thick to pass through, and a mix of salt and water remaining in the beaker. Next, we spooned the poppy seeds into one pile and the sand into another. After that we lit our Bunsen burner and prepared to evaporate the water, leaving behind just the salt. Unfortunately, we had too much water in the beaker and it didn’t boil in time.

Questions:
1) We asked a question (How do you separate a mixture of iron filings, sand, poppy seeds, and salt), constructed a hypothesis (how we would separate the mixture), tested our hypothesis by doing an experiment, and communicated our results (lab writeup).

2) No, in order to separate the mixture you have to remove the sand, poppy seeds, and iron filings before boiling the water off so there is only salt left.

3) Iron filings - magnetic, sand - won’t dissolve in water, poppy seeds -