Separation
Sorting: Probably the most simple of separation methods. You simply separate the mechanical mixture, into piles according to similarity. E.g. when you have all the clothes for laundry, you separate the lights from the darks, etc.
Floating: Floating is used to separate light substances from heavy. In a mechanical mixture made up of a substance that can float on a liquid, and a substance that can't, if the mixture is poured into that certain liquid, the particles which can float, will stay on the top and the others would sink. So, the substance that floated can now be skimmed off the top.
Settling: Settling follows the same concept as floating, but it is used to scoop things from the bottom, as oppose to skim off the top. Say you have a glass of water with sand at the bottom, you can pour the water out from the top of class, and scoop the sand out from the bottom. Below is a picture of how the sand would like with the water:
Settling: Settling follows the same concept as floating, but it is used to scoop things from the bottom, as oppose to skim off the top. Say you have a glass of water with sand at the bottom, you can pour the water out from the top of class, and scoop the sand out from the bottom. Below is a picture of how the sand would like with the water:
Magnetism: If your mechanical mixture has one substance that is magnetic, and others that are not, then you can use a magnet to attract the magnetic substance to it, and as the other substances won't attract, so they won't go towards the magnet. This sort of separation is most commonly seen when sorting metals from other materials in a waste/recycling factory. Below is a practical example of how magnetism is used:
Sieving: Sieving is a process used to separate small things, from bigger ones. A kitchen colander is an example of that. A sieve is a tool which contains many holes, and when a mixture is poured in, the small objects fall through the holes, whilst the larger ones cannot fit. Below is a picture in which the water has fallen through the holes, and the pasta has not as it cannot fit.
Filtration: Filtration uses the same concept as sieving, but instead of separating smaller pieces from bigger pieces, it separates solids from liquids and gases. E.g. when making coffee, the filter that is used separates the solid pieces from the liquid coffee.
Dissolving: Dissolving is used when you have a mixture of two substances that are small and hard to separate. If there is a solvent which only dissolves one of the substances, then you can mix the mixture with that solvent, and one of the substances will dissolve, and the other one will just sit in the water.