Try Visual Inspection

First step in classification [1flowch2.gif] In this scheme the first test is a visual inspection. Look at the material and determine whether it is heterogeneous or homogeneous.

"Heterogeneous" means that you can see more than one material present. If you can see that a material is heterogeneous, it is classified as a "heterogeneous mixture." Sometimes this is shortened simply to "mixture." For our purposes this is not a good idea just yet.

If you have a mixture of salt and pepper, for example, you can look at it and see both the salt and the pepper. It is a heterogeneous mixture. You can see that there is more than one component to that material. Cork is another example of a heterogeneous mixture. Most bricks are. Dirt is. These are all heterogeneous mixtures.

If visual inspection shows that a material is homogeneous, additional questions will have to be asked (on the following pages) before we can put that material into a category.

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E-mail instructor: Sue Eggling