Use a property
Magnetism separates iron without changing the other materials.
Mixture Separator
Use magnetism, filtration, evaporation and distillation to separate a mixture.
Grades 3–5 · Chemistry
Your goal
Collect the iron with its magnetic property.
Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.
Recovered iron 0 g, sand 0 g and pure salt 0 g. Water collected 0 g, water vapor released 0 g. A filter traps insoluble particles, including iron if the magnet has not removed it. Dissolved salt goes through with the water.
This model uses ideal complete separation. A magnet can remove iron from the wet mixture or the filter solids. Filtering alone does not remove dissolved salt or make water safe to drink. Distillation is illustrated as a teacher demonstration, not a home experiment.
Related resources
Related simulations
Learn with Mixture Separator
Work through a mixture containing iron, sand, dissolved salt, and water by choosing a magnet, a filter, evaporation, or distillation. Mixture Separator gives elementary students a concrete reason to match a method with a physical property. Iron responds to a magnet, insoluble particles stay in the filter, and dissolved salt travels with water until the water is removed. The recovery counters distinguish collected water from released vapor. Students can reset and compare operation orders while learning that filtering alone does not make water safe to drink.
What to look for
Keep salt in mind
Dissolved salt passes through the filter with water.
Collect water too
Distillation collects water; evaporation releases it as vapor.
For teachers and curious learners
Choose physical properties to recover iron, sand, salt and water. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.
Operations represent ideal complete separation. A magnet can lift iron from the mixture or filter solids. Filtering retains insoluble solids but passes dissolved salt. Pure salt recovery requires removal of both insoluble materials.