Question

How can I separate salt from sand?
I have the following materials:
A funnel
A paper filter
Distilled water
5grams of sand
5grams of salt
The idea is to get as close to 5g of each into separate piles. DO NOT SUGGEST IDEAS USING HEAT. All the answers to this type of question that I have found involve heat.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Sand is made of silica particles, therefore, you can dissolve the sodium chloride in water. So to do the separation one should add a known amount of water to the mixture and this will cause the sodium chloride to dissolve and not the sand. Run the mixture in a Buchner funnel, and the sand should be filtered out on the paper and the sodium chloride should be in the solution.

Answer 2

This would work, except that I need the salt to be in its original state by the time I finish the experiment.

Answer 3

mix the water with the sand and salt, then run it through the filter, where all the sand will be trapped, because it doesnt dissolve in water, and you will end up with a solution of pure H2O and salt, which you can leave out in the open air, where it would naturally evaporate and you would end up with pure salt cristals, because there was no other polutants in the water once you started