1. 7A3: Plan To Separate A Mixture
Grade 7

2. Challenge Question How can you separate substances in mixtures?
By hand
Using manual tools (strainer, gravity filter, forceps)
Using machines (vacuum, centrifuge, distillation)

3. Margin Questions What are three examples of mixtures?
M&M colors
Bag of Halloween candy
Chicken Noodle Soup
How would you separate the soup mixture?
Strain the soup, putting liquid in a bowl
Separate noodles by hand into another bowl
Put remaining chicken into a third bowl

4. Background
When a HazMat team works with a substance the team first tries to identify it, after taking care of any immediate hazards.
The substance could be a Mixture:
a combination of two or more pure substances that can be physically separated

5. Vocabulary
Observation:
Carefully use your senses to gain information.

6. Hypothesis
Write an “IF…, THEN…” statement describing how to separate mixtures.
If a substance is a mixture, then I predict that it can be separated into its pure materials by:
Observing them
Deciding what makes them different (solid, liquid, gas, color, density, boiling point, etc.)
Choosing tools appropriate for the separation task

7. Lab Tools Lab Tray Goggles Forceps (tweezers) Eyedropper Cup Funnel
To separate materials
Goggles
Eye protection
Forceps (tweezers)
Picking up and holding
Eyedropper
Transfer liquids
Cup
Hold and separate items
Funnel
Directing liquids
Wire Mesh (screen)
Separates solid from liquid (fits inside funnel)
Filter Paper
Separate small solids from liquid (fits on wire mesh in the funnel)
Steel Wool
Separates solids

8. Lab Tools Lab Tray Funnel Goggles Wire Mesh Forceps Filter Paper
Eyedropper
Cup
Funnel
Wire Mesh
Filter Paper
Coffee filter
Steel Wool

9. Analysis page A12 #3-5
On separate paper, answer each in 1 paragraph. 3) What safety precautions should you take when separating mixtures? 4) Why would we ever need to separate the different substances in a mixture? 5) Could you identify the contents of a green oily liquid through observation alone?