The purpose of this experiment was to calculate the mass of composition of each component in a mixture containing sand, salt and iron filings.
Introduction:
Many substances that we use on a daily basis are in fact part of a mixture. A scientist separated a mixture to obtain the specific substance that was in need. Many of the compounds and mixtures today are not found in its pure form, but in mixtures. Many scientists have the impression that separating mixtures is an important part of chemistry and modern academics. How can the components of mixture be separated and analyzed?
Background Information: All elements and compounds are pure substances and they are categorized by having specific properties that are unique from other substances. In contrast, mixtures have properties that depend on the components that form them. …show more content…
Each component of a mixture keeps its original properties and the proportion of each component is variable. The physical properties of a mixture depend on its composition because the amounts of each component making up a mixture may be different. Some physical properties examples can be used to describe pure substances include solubility, boiling point, melting point etc.
By taking advantage of the unique physical properties of individual components within a mixture, it should be possible to separate a mixture into its components and they can be used by different separation methods - one example is a strainer. Physical changes that can be used to separate the components of a mixture including filtration, evaporation, crystallization, and distillation.
Mass percent composition is a convenient way to express that actual composition of a mixture in terms of the amount of each component. The mass percent of each component in a mixture is calculated as