Heterogeneous Mixture Essay

Introduction: A mixture is a combination of two or more substances that do not have fixed proportions to one another. The two types of mixtures that exist are heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures. A heterogeneous mixture is a mixture where someone is able to see more than one color or type of matter, This mixture has more than one phase and a non-uniform composition. A homogeneous mixture, however, is a mixture that looks the same throughout the composition, and has one phase and uniform composition (Experiment 1.4: Separation of MIxtures Student Instruction Sheet). Separating the substances in mixtures can be done using different methods, including decant, filtration, evaporation, distillation, magnetic separation, and chromatography.

Hypothesis: If iron has a higher percentage composition by mass compared to sand and salt, then iron has the highest percent composition by mass in the sand, salt, and iron mixture because iron is a type of metal, and metals tend to have a large mass. Materials and Methods: The materials needed to conduct the lab include the sample (mixture of sand, salt, and iron filings), ring stand, two 100 mL beakers, funnel, filter paper, scoop, stirring rod, magnet, small and large watch glasses, lab burner, and a 250 mL collecting bottle. In order to complete the lab, one must take the mass of the large watch glass and record it. After doing so, pour the mixture onto the large watch glass. One must take the mass of the large glass plate with the mixture on top of it and record it. In order to find out the mass of the mixture, subtract the mass of the large watch glass with the mixture with the mass of the large watch glass. Next, one must take the mass of the small watch glass and record it. Take the magnet and collect all the iron filings and place the iron filings onto the small watch glass. Take the mass of the small watch glass with the iron filings and record it. In order to find out the mass of the iron filings, subtract