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4: Separation of Salt and Sand

  • Page ID
    506142
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    PURPOSE

     The purpose of this experiment is to:

    • Separate a mixture containing an unknown composition of sand and salt.
    • Calculate the percentage of sand and salt in the unknown mixture. 

    INTRODUCTION

    Matter can be classified as a pure substance or a mixture. Pure substances include elements and compounds. Elements are the simplest forms of matter that cannot be decomposed into other types of matter. They are found on the periodic table. A compound is a chemical combination of elements. Mixtures can be either homogeneous, meaning they are uniform throughout, or heterogeneous, meaning they are non-uniform in composition.

    Mixtures can be separated by physical methods such as filtration, decantation, distillation, and evaporation. In this experiment, you will use filtration and evaporation to separate a mixture of sand and salt. Once the mixture is separated, you will be asked to determine the percentage of sand and salt. The following example illustrates how to perform these calculations.

    Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    A mixture of sand and salt had a mass of 10.750 g. Once separated, the mass of sand was determined to be 5.550 g. The mass of recovered salt was

    5.200 g. Using this information, determine the percentage of sand and salt in the mixture.

    Solution

    We find the percentage of a component in a mixture using the formula.

    percentage of component is mass of component over mass of mixture x 100

    The percentage of sand would be 5.550 g over 10.750 g x 100 = 51.63 %

    and the percentage of salt would be 5.200 g over 10.750 g x 100 = 48.37%

      


    This page titled 4: Separation of Salt and Sand is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Saadia Khan.