Mixture Basics

Mixtures are absolutely everywhere you look. Mixtures are the form for most things in nature. Rocks, air, or the ocean, they are just about anything you find. They are substances held together by physical forces, not chemical. That statement means the individual molecules enjoy being near each other, but their fundamental chemical structure does not change when they enter the mixture.

Tap Water and Distilled Water

When you see distilled water, it's a pure substance. That fact means that there are just water molecules in the liquid. A mixture would be a glass of water with other things dissolved inside, maybe salt. Each of the substances in that glass of water keeps the original chemical properties. So, if you have some dissolved substances, you can boil off the water and still have those dissolved substances left over. Because it takes very high temperatures to boil salt, the salt is left in the container.

Mixtures are Everywhere

You can separate iron from salt with a magnet

There are an infinite number of mixtures. Anything you can combine is a mixture. Think of everything you eat. Just think about how many cakes there are. Each of those cakes is made up of a different mixture of ingredients. Even the wood in your pencil is considered a chemical mixture. There is the basic cellulose of the wood, but there are also thousands of other compounds in that pencil.

Solutions are also mixtures. If you put sand into a glass of water, it is considered to be a mixture. You can always tell a mixture because each of the substances can be separated from the group in different physical ways. You can always get the sand out of the water by filtering the water away. A solution can also be made of two liquids. Even something as simple as bleach and water is a solution.

RELATED LINKS

- Biology4Kids: Scientific Method
- Biology4Kids: Cell Structure
- Physics4Kids: Heat Expansion
- Geography4Kids: Earth Structure
- Geography4Kids: Hydrosphere

-	Overview
-	States
-	Phase Changes
-	Chemical-Physical
-	Solids
-	Liquids
-	Evaporation
-	Gases
-	Plasmas
-	BE Condensate
-	Solutions
>	Mixtures I
-	Mixtures II
-	Mixture Examples
	MORE CHEMISTRY TOPICS

** Andrew Rader Studios does not monitor or review the content available at these web sites. They are paid advertisements and neither partners nor recommeded web sites.