What materials are needed for separating water and sand?

Sand is insoluble in water and is heavier than water. That is why, when we mix sand in water, it does not dissolve and ultimately settles down. We can keep the mixture out in the sun or heat it to remove the water. We can also remove the supernatant (overlying liquid or water over the sand) with the help of a pipette and dry the remaining mixture in a laboratory oven. Sand would be the leftover matter in each of these cases. If we need to recover the water, we can collect the water vapors during the heating process and condense them.

Thus, the materials that are needed for separating sand and water are:

• a vessel or beaker to keep the solution


• Something to heat it: Bunsen burner or laboratory oven or sunlight


• An arrangement to collect water vapors.

As we can see, the separation of sand and water is a really easy process.

Hope this helps.