Mixtures and Solutions
Students explore mixtures and solutions.Copyright (atom) U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/curriculum/unit2/lesson1reading.shtml; (salt shaker) U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/dietarysodium.html; (faucet) U.S. Bureau of Reclamation http://www.usbr.gov/lc/socal/wtrcons.html
Through three lessons and their four associated activities, students are introduced to concepts related to mixtures and solutions. Students consider how mixtures and solutions—and atoms and molecules—can influence new technologies developed by engineers.
Engineers apply their understanding of the properties of matter to decide what materials to use when creating and designing new things. And, they use their knowledge of mixtures and solutions when designing new synthetic materials for a multitude of purposes. Imagination has no bounds, and as technology advances and researchers learn more about the building blocks of matter, innovative technologies move from imagination to reality.
Engineers understand the properties of metals, whether they may bend or not bend, expand, contract, or withstand forces under certain circumstances—all important factors to consider when designing and creating the devices, structures and human-made objects we depend upon. Furthermore, engineers take advantage of the chemical properties of different elements as they develop mixtures and substances for medicines, materials and cleaning solutions, among the thousands upon thousands of other products that we use in our lives every day.