Kevin Gebur

Period 1/2
Mixture Separation Lab
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to separate a mixture of substances based on individual
properties of the substances.
Materials:

Chemicals
Equipment
Eight Dixie Cups Sand
Stir Rod Salt
Magnet Iron Filings
Spatula Poppy Seeds
Two Beakers Water
Test Tube Substance Mixture
Funnel Distilled Water
Petri Dish
Flask
Filter Paper
Ring Stand
Iron Ring
Wire Gauze
Bunsen Burner
Matches

Safety: To stay safe during this lab, avoid ingesting the chemicals and always wear the safety
goggles and apron when using flame and toxic chemicals.

Procedure:
Day 1
1. Place chemicals into four separate Dixie cups.
2. Place the magnet under the Dixie cups to determine whether or not the chemicals are
magnetic.
3. Pour a half a cup of water into four separate Dixie cups.
4. Pour the chemicals into the Dixie cups filled with water and observe the flotation of the
chemicals.
5. With the stir rod, stir the solution to observe saturation.
 6. Place the stir rod in the solution to observe the attraction of the solution to the rod.
Day 2
1. Pour entire substance out of the test tube into the lid of the petri dish.
2. P1ace magnet over substance to remove iron filings.
3. Scrape iron filings into petri dish.
4. Pour remaining substance into beaker and add half a cup of water.
5. Stir substance to dissolve salt.
6. Distill the sand from the water by pouring only the water into another beaker.
7. Place sand in petri dish.
8. Place funnel and filter paper over flask to filter out the poppy seeds.
9. Place poppy seeds in petri dish.
10. Put together the ring stand for evaporation.
11. Place flask over the wire gauze and light the Bunsen burner to evaporate the water.
12. Scrape out the salt into the petri dish.

Data/Observations:
Property: Sand Salt Iron Filings Poppy Seeds
Magnetic: No No Yes No
Dissolve in No Yes No No
water:
Float: No No No Yes
Attraction to stir No Yes No No
rod:
1. When stirred some of the poppy seeds sank to the bottom.
2. After evaporating the water, the iron rod stand became hot.

Conclusion:
In this lab we discovered some of the properties of certain substances. We then used the
properties of these substances to split up the chemicals when they were combined together. The
reason we had performed this lab was to understand the properties of substances and be able to
find them on our own. The results of this lab showed us some of the properties of the chemicals
we used and how to find the substances by using the properties.
There may have been many errors that could have contradicted the results we had received.
Some of the possible errors might include possible spilling of a liquid, not enough of the
chemical to test the properties, and there may have been a weak magnet when we tested the
magnetic property. Another possible error could have been not enough stirring to dissolve the
substance, and also small amounts of different chemicals could have mixed together to change
the property.