Enquiry

6.13 Separating mixtures –

filtering and decanting
Objectives Decanting
■ Describe how to separate Tabia collects water from a pond.
mixtures by decanting and The water is muddy. She takes it
filtering home and leaves it in the bucket.
■ Understand how to plan an The mud settles to the bottom. Later, mud
investigation Tabia carefully pours the water into a
storage container. This is decanting.
filter funnel The mud remains in the bucket.

water Tabia used decanting to separate a clean

mixture of a liquid and a solid. You water
sand
filter paper
can also use decanting to separate Decanting involves carefully pouring off a
liquids, if one liquid floats on the other. liquid from a mixture.

clamp
Filtering
At school, Wira has a mixture of sand and water. Sand does not dissolve in
water. It is insoluble. Wira wants to separate the sand from the water. He
pours the mixture onto a piece of filter paper. Sand remains in the filter paper.
Water passes through tiny holes in the paper.
Wira has filtered the sandy water. He has used filtration to separate an
insoluble solid from a liquid.
beaker
Anvita’s teacher gives her a mixture of salt and sand. He tells her to separate
the sand and salt. Anvita adds hot water to the mixture, and stirs. The salt
dissolves in the water.
water Next, Anvita filters the mixture. Sand remains in the filter paper. The salt
solution passes through the paper. Anvita removes the sand from the paper,
Filtration separates an insoluble and keeps it to show her teacher. Turn over to find out how to separate solid
solid from a liquid. salt from salt solution.

Planning an investigation
Turning ideas into a form that can be tested
Jamal’s mum takes iron tablets. Iron tablets contain compounds that contain
iron. Jamal plans a project about iron tablets. He wants to investigate their
solubility in water of different temperatures.
First, Jamal thinks of a question to test.

What mass of iron tablet

dissolves in water at
different temperatures?

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 Material properties
Considering variables
Jamal lists all the possible variables. He decides which to change, control,
and measure.

Temperature – change this variable

Mass of iron tablet that dissolves – measure this variable
How fast I stir – control this variable
Volume of water – control this variable

Jamal needs to decide what volume of water to use. He tries dissolving a tablet
in 10 cm3 of water, then in 100 cm3 of water, and lastly in 1000 cm3 of water at
room temperature. He chooses to use 100 cm3 of water for his investigation.
With this volume, some – but not all – of the tablet dissolves. This means
that, in this volume of water, it is possible that different masses of tablet will
dissolve at different temperatures.

Planning what to do
Jamal writes a plan. He decides to use filtering to separate the solution from
the solid that does not dissolve.

1 Measure out 50 cm3 water. Find its temperature.

2 Find the mass of a tablet.
3 Add the tablet to the water. Stir.
4 Filter the mixture.
5 Keep the solid in the filter paper. When it dries, find its mass.
6 Calculate the mass of iron tablet that dissolved.
7 Repeat at 4 different temperatures.

Making predictions and obtaining evidence

Jamal makes a prediction. He knows that, for many substances, the higher the
temperature, the more dissolves. He uses this scientific knowledge to predict
that the same will be true in his investigation.
Jamal carries out his investigation. He finds that his prediction is correct.

1 Draw and label two diagrams to show how to separate mud from water by decanting ● Decanting separates a liquid
and by filtering. from a solid, or liquids of
2 Franco has a mixture of olive oil and water. Suggest how to separate the two liquids. different densities.
● Filtering separates an
3 Zumila wants to use filtration to separate salt from salty water. Explain why this will
not work. insoluble solid from a liquid
or solution.

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