A beaker contains a mixture of sand and salt. A student adds water to dissolve the salt. Which processes can be used to separate out the sand and the salt?

Question

distillation to collect the sand and filtration to collect the salt
filtration to collect the sand and distillation to collect the salt
distillation to collect both the sand and the salt
filtration to collect both the sand and the salt

Answer 1

To separate the sand and salt from a mixture where the salt has been dissolved in water, the correct processes would be:

1. Filtration: This process can be used to separate the sand from the saltwater solution. The sand will remain on the filter paper while the salty water (the filtrate) passes through.

2. Evaporation or Distillation: After filtering, you can collect the salt from the saltwater solution by either evaporating the water or using distillation to separate the salt from the water. Since it specifically states that salt is dissolved, distillation (or simple evaporation) is needed to recover the salt.

Given this information, the correct answer would be filtration to collect the sand and distillation to collect the salt.