Oh I got it, just simply take the bag of salt out and take the bag of sugar out of the container. People are overthinking this.

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Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Flame Effect Transistor

 

In the original post it was stated that the sugar and salt were poured from the bags and mixed together. For some reason I did make the assumption that the mixture was in a aqueous solution.

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Pay it forward.

 

Right, but still people ARE overthinking this.

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Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Flame Effect Transistor

 

"I have two bags, one of Salt and one of Sugar and then pour both into a single container and shake well so that both are evenly mixed together"

This is the original question.

 

That's because people think there is a right answer. There isn't. Perhaps that is The Mad Professors original intent. In practical problem solving there is no right or wrong answer, only results and varying degrees of success in addressing the problem. If not. Well it was just a wasted post =)

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Well, you could apply heat until the sugar is molten, and the salt will float (I think), but how in the heck would you separate the salt from that sticky liquid?

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Ron

 

Unless we are talking Brown sugar & Rock salt crystals, normal table salt and refined sugar are quite different in grain size.....

Sift em.

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Unacceptable sig deleted - moderator.

 

We had this very lab in intro chem in college. Given a sand, salt and sugar mixture, report the % of constituents.

It was fairly easy. Solubility in water lets you filter out the sand. Boil solution to get solids again (salt and sugar). Then solubility in alcohol (e.g. methanol) lets you dissolve the sugar. Filter out the salt. Boil the alcohol/sugar solution to get back to dry sugar.

Different alcohols will work differently, and they cannot contain any water. Grain alcohol would be a bad choice, because it's only ~190 proof. This is because you can only get to 95% pure ethanol with distillation only because a 95/5 mix of ethanol and water form an azeotrope. No amount of further distillation will increase the alcohol concentration. You'd have to get pure ethanol, which would be a lab grade chemical. But this is really nit picking.

 

Since this is a electrical forum, I'll post the way to do it electrically,according to "Watch Mr. Wizard", Don Herbert. I was a big fan of the show in the 50's and 60's!

#1. Pour the salt/sugar mixture on a table top and spread it out.

#2. Bow up a toy (birthday party) balloon.

#3. Here's the electrical part- rub the balloon with fur or in your hair to charge with Static Electricity!

#4. hold the balloon close over the salt/sugar mix. The sugar being organic will attract to the balloon. salt being mineral/metal will not attract.

#5. Wipe the sugar off the balloon into a container.

#6. Repeat #2 through #6 until no more sugar sticks to balloon.

See told you it was electrical.

Cary

 

Gold Stars for

MrAl, Mickster and especially shortbus=.

I particulary liked MrAL and his ants, Mickster of course supplied the classic correct answer that salt and sugar crystals are different sizes so can be sieved apart.

Shortbus, I salute you for holding out as long as you did before delivering the coup de grâce and putting so many puzzled heads at rest as to why this particular question was posed in an electronics forum.

 

Just go to the store and buy some new salt and sugar. Its cheap.

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"Issue a general safety warning. Then look the other way and allow stupidity the chance to eliminate itself." -- tcmtech
"Those who can, Will. Those who can't, will achieve positions of power over those who can and then promptly stop them." -- tcmtech
"Your impossibility may just be my day to day routine." -- tcmtech

 

After observing both sugar and salt crystals under a very good microscope, I am not so sure I buy the sieve solution. Albiet I did note that on average the salt crystal were larger than sugar and more cubic in shape than sugar. I also noted size difference was microns. I also noted that granularity of sugar sizes varied from very small to equal size of salt. I doubt a sieve could function effectivly in seperating both the sugar and salt. It is my opinion that a more precise chemist approach would be needed.

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Pay it forward.

 

I didn't have a balloon, so I rubbed a plexiglass rod with a piece of leather. The charged rod was very effective in picking up sugar and salt.

And plan B is...

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Ron

 

Sieving is not a perfect answer I grant you it's a classic example of the difference between theory and practice. But the principle is sound nevertheless sound, though not 100% effective.


For all the budding chemistry buffs who have appeared..
and this might make for a good class science project as well

could the two in solution be separated by growing a single large crystal of soduim chloride from the mix?

 

Well, I have been accused of taking things too seriously, but I do disagree that sieving is even a close answer. The physical sizes of the crystals are determined by how they are ground. My favorite salt, for example, is Kosher and the crystals are quite large. The question said specifically that you do not want salt in your coffee. That implies a fairly complete separation as it would not take much salt to be detectable.

The ant solution is also wrong, because that is isolation, not separation. There are many ways sugar could be isolated from salt and vice versa, if one allows destruction of the other component.

The static method is clever. I wonder if it really works in practice.

John