Spot the Invisible Mix
Classify mixtures as homogeneous or heterogeneous.
Setting up the bench…
What this lesson covers
Why it matters
Stir sugar into water and it vanishes — every sip tastes the same. Stir sand into water and it sits there in clumps. Two mixtures, two very different looks.
Predict first
Why can't you see the sugar in sugar-water?
A homogeneous mixture is uniform throughout (sugar water, air). A heterogeneous mixture has visible, uneven parts (sand in water, salad).
- The sugar is destroyed
- It spreads into particles too small to see — evenly, everywhere — correct
- Sugar is the same colour as water
What you do
Sort each mixture: uniform throughout (homogeneous), or uneven visible parts (heterogeneous)?
Check yourself
Which is a homogeneous mixture?
Salt water looks the same throughout — homogeneous. Sand-in-water and salad have visible separate parts.
In a heterogeneous mixture, the parts are…
Heterogeneous mixtures have visible, non-uniform parts you could pick or filter out.
- Salt water — correct
- Sand in water
- Fruit salad
- uneven and often visible — correct
- always invisible
- chemically bonded