[Sukarou]

HI!

I need help with this question! Anyone care to help me!

Devise a way to separate sand from a mixture of charcoal, sand, sugar, and water.

THANKS!!!!!!! 

[mike]

Yes I will help, but only if you show me your attempts at this question first :-)

[english]

Knowing that sugar is soluble in water is a nice place to start.

[Sukarou]

Yes I will help, but only if you show me your attempts at this question first :-)

Well, i was thinking since sugar and water is easy to remove. And i already know how to remove both sand and the charcoal from the sugar and water. But the big problem is the charcoal. It doesn't react to a magnet, so that doesn't work. My brother says burn it but its going to burn the sand too. So i ran out of ideas of how to remove charcoal from the sand.

[Sukarou]

Knowing that sugar is soluble in water is a nice place to start.

Yea, the only problem is the charcoal.   

[Borek]

You should listen to your brother. Have you ever seen burning sand?

Besides - is sugar burning, or not? Perhaps it can be removed in one step with charcoal?

[english]

Okay, I think I have your answer to charcoal / sand separation.

After you have separated the water and dissolved sugar using a filtration setup, allow the charcoal and sand to dry.

Now put the charcoal and sand mixture in a beaker and add water (enough as you see fit).

Swirl the mixture a little and the charcoal should float to the top of the water while the sand settles to the bottom.  Now you can decant off the water with charcoal.  Continue to add water and do this until all the charcoal is removed.  Now just filter the water with sand again to remove the water, let the sand dry, and that should be it.

I'm assuming the charcoal is broken up and not in very large pieces?  Try this.

[Donaldson Tan]

Swirl the mixture a little and the charcoal should float to the top of the water while the sand settles to the bottom.

That is the part I am not sure about.

[mike]

My suggestions for separating sand and charcoal are:

If the sand particle size is quite different to the charcoal particle size you can use a sieve. The smaller charcoal particles will pass through while the larger sand particles will stay behind.

You could possibly try KV's idea of placing the sand and charcoal in water and hope that one sinks quicker than the other, presumably the sand will sink quicker and you may be able to separate the two.

Maybe some sort of centrifuge technique could work.

The problem I see with burning is that I would guess that you are supposed to be able to isolate the different components.

[Sukarou]

hm....i never seem burnt sand before. i was going to ask my teacher if the charcoal is in chunks or in powder. Sadly, i forgot to ask.  I'll try to remember tomorrow.

[Sukarou]

Okay, I think I have your answer to charcoal / sand separation.

After you have separated the water and dissolved sugar using a filtration setup, allow the charcoal and sand to dry.

Now put the charcoal and sand mixture in a beaker and add water (enough as you see fit).

Swirl the mixture a little and the charcoal should float to the top of the water while the sand settles to the bottom.  Now you can decant off the water with charcoal.  Continue to add water and do this until all the charcoal is removed.  Now just filter the water with sand again to remove the water, let the sand dry, and that should be it.

I'm assuming the charcoal is broken up and not in very large pieces?  Try this.

ok....thanks ^_^