Separation of Mixtures

Iron filings 1.9 29.3%

Sand 1.4 21.5%

Table salt 1.6 24.6%

Benzoic acid 1.6 24.6%

Total 6.5 100%

Questions

A. How did your proposed Procedures or flow charts at the beginning of this experiment compare to the actual Procedures of this lab exercise?

I was correct on the assumption of the magnet separating the iron from the sand, salt and acid. I was not sure how the acid and sand and salt were going to be separated but once it was heated I knew that the acid was going to be filtrated out with the water into the filter paper.

B. Discuss potential advantages or disadvantages of your proposed Procedure compared to the one actually used.

I thought that we were going to pour the benzoic acid out of the water containing the sand and salt so that sand would not be poured out. After comparing the procedures pouring the salt water and benzoic acid leaving the sand in the beaker makes sense so that the salt water would not have to be filtered out of both the benzoic acid and sand.

C. How would you explain a sand recovery percentage that is higher than the original sand percentage?

Watching the sand while heating, when the sand gets to hot it can pop out and at certain times I was noticing sand popping out of the beaker which means I lost some of the original sand.

D. What were potential sources of error in this experiment?

Not letting the sand dry completely while being heated due to losing some of the sand, not getting all the iron with the magnet. And separating the salt from the crystals