Kingfishers Science – Mixtures and Solutions

Posted on by Mr Beech

Report written by the Kingfishers who were still here after 3pm (when we had cleaned up).

Today we have been investigating mixtures and solutions. We mixed Dihydrogen monoxide* with paperclips, sand and rice to form a mixture. Into this, we then dissolved salt. We discussed the difference between a mixture and a solution.

Mr Beech then asked us to give him back all four of the ingredients: salt, sand, rice and paperclips.

First, we dipped a magnet into our ‘soup’ to remove the paper clips – paperclips are the only thing in there that contain iron (special shout out to Amber for this knowledge) so they stuck to the magnet.

Next, we strained the mixture through a sieve. This only removed the rice because the sand and saltwater went straight through.

Thirdly, we filtered the sand out using a funnel and filter paper, leaving only the saltwater.

Finally, we evaporated the solvent (Dihydrogen monoxide) leaving only the salt in the pan. A special mention to Molly for thinking of this!

*H2O to the rest of us!