In our latest science project, a few of my classmates and I did a Separation of Sea Water Lab to learn more about the matter and all of the different forms it takes. The goal of the lab was to take a flask of seawater and separate it into three different substances: salt, water, and sand. We used a coffee filter to strain the sand out of the salt water and then built a distillation system to separate the salt and water. Here are a few pictures showcasing our distillation system…

As you can see, we used a heating plate to boil the salt water in the flask. When the water evaporated, it traveled through a plastic tube and passed through two cups of ice. Finally, it was collected in a beaker surrounded by more ice at the end of the system. The reason behind these ‘cooling stations’ that we used was that the water vapor would have a chance to condense. As a liquid, it would be a lot easier to contain the water and it would be less likely for it to escape through holes in our collection station.

When we did this lab, we used the different physical properties of the substances in our seawater to help us make separation easier.  For example, since the sand particles were larger than that of the salt and water, we were able to separate the sand using a coffee filter as a strainer. The salt and water particles were easily able to filter through, leaving the larger pieces of sand behind.  Another property that helped us with separation was the fact that salt and water have different boiling points. This allowed us to boil the water at 100 degrees Celsius and have it evaporate, while the salt was still solid and got left behind.

Throughout this project, we talked about the particles and properties of solids, liquids, and gasses as well as chemical and physical properties and the different types of mixtures and solutions. Overall, this lab was a really fun experience and I definitely learned more about matter and why it, well, matters!