Separation Challenge Lab Report

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The Separation Challenge is an experiment involving the use of background knowledge of mixtures, properties of matter, and creativity in order to find a solution to separate three different substances layered on top of each other within a container. The experiment required a matter of coming up with a solid and thought out procedure to successfully separate the three substances individually within an amount of time using various lab materials and technology accessible at the time.
Background
A mixture, according to definition, is a combination of components and substances mixed together to form one particular substance, uniform or not. Mixtures can be classified down to two types, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Homogeneous mixtures are generally uniform, or have the same consistent composition throughout, whereas heterogeneous mixtures are not entirely defined and vary in …show more content…

The experiment was built in order to test our abilities to efficiently and correctly execute a separation of mixtures through deep brainstorming and teamwork.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis that was formed in this experiment was that decantation and distillation were the techniques that would be successful in separating the three layered substances. The oil on top of the mixture was to be decanted solely, and the salt and sand layers would be distilled and separated together on filter paper on top of boiling hot water. The reason that the oil is decanted is because it doesn’t mingle with the salt and sand layers, and in addition it was the top layer, which was thought to have been easy to separate first. And as for the sand and salt, sand doesn’t mix and dissolve in water compared to salt, which does in fact dissolve, so distillation was thought to be the proper solution to separating the two

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