Separating Substances Within A Mixture.
Mixtures of all types can be found anywhere at anytime and probably go by with out being noticed most of the time. Looking at the mixture that I was presented with I could definitely tell this was no ordinary mixture. I could tell Mr. Hoying put his heart and soul into making the mixture so that almost perfection could be accomplished (Just Kidding). It was a mixture of water, salt, iron shavings, and sand. The Mission put before me was a gruesome and grueling task. I had to separate all of the substances into their own separate types, except the water.
Materials & Equipment Used.
The materials that I used for this lab were salt, water, iron shavings, and sand. The equipment that I used were beakers, forceps, paper filters, a Bunsen burner, a magnet, and a stirring rod, iron ring, and ring stand.
Precautions.
There were many safety precautions to be aware of in this lab. Special awareness had to be used when separating the iron shavings out of the mixture. You wouldn't want to rub your eyes if there were shavings on your hand because it might cause serious damage to your eyes. Also you would want to be careful not to slip on any water that may have spilled on the floor during the process of performing the experiment. Finally you would want to be extra cautious when using the Bunsen burner, making sure not to burn yourself with the flame or the heated substance.
Procedure.
At first I didn't know where to start. Then after thinking about it, it all came together. The first thing I did was examine the mixture to see what would be the easiest substance to extract. The first thing that came to mind was to get out the iron shavings. I placed the magnet I had inside the mixture and stirred it around and pulled out chunks of shavings. I repeated this process four times until all the iron shavings were practically out of the mixture. I placed the iron shaving aside in a paper filter to strain the rest of the water from the shavings.