In year 5 we have been studying Materials in Science. This covers all properties of materials.

Our investigation this week was how to separate materials in a mixture. We considered the logical order of steps to take in order to successfully separate all the materials.

We planned which equipment to use at each stage incorporating filtering, sieving and evaporation.

We found that:

  • large particles can be separated using a riddle (e.g.: pebbles)
  • smaller particles can be extracted using a sieve (e.g.: rice/raisins)
  • sand and salt can be separated by adding water to the mixture and filtering it through filter paper
  • salt can be extracted from the water through evaporation by heating the water over candles
  • water can be collected through condensation (water vapour hitting a cold surface)

We had fun being scientists and we successfully managed to achieve our objective as you can see in the pictures!