2.2 CHAPTER 2. CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER
simply pouring the water through a filter. Somethingphysicalis done to the mixture,
rather than somethingchemical.We can group mixtures further by dividing them into those that are heterogeneous and
those that are homogeneous.
Heterogeneous mixtures ESAX
Aheterogeneousmixture does not have a definite composition. Cereal in milk is an ex-
ample of a heterogeneous mixture. Soil is another example. Soil has pebbles, plant matter
and sand in it. Although you may add one substance to the other, they will stay separate
in the mixture. We say that these heterogeneous mixtures arenon-uniform, in other words
they are not exactly the same throughout.
CerealPicture by dougww on Flickr.com Figure 2.3: A submicroscopic representation
of a heterogeneous mixture. The gray circles
are one substance (e.g. one cereal) and the
white circles are another substance (e.g. an-
other cereal). The background is the milk.DEFINITION: Heterogeneous mixture
A heterogeneous mixture is one that consists of two or more substances. It
is non-uniform and the different components of the mixture can be seen.Heterogeneous mixtures can be further subdivided according to whether it is two liquids
mixed, a solid and a liquid or a liquid and a gas or even a gas and a solid. These mixtures
are given special names which you can see in table below.
26 Chemistry: Matter and Materials