Read the descriptions below of two substances and an experiment on each. Decide whether the result of the experiment tells you the substance is a pure substance or a mixture, if you can.

Sample A is of a coarse grey powder with a faint unpleasant smell. of the powder is put into a funnel lined with a sheet of thick paper. Distilled water is poured slowly over the powder. Most of the powder disappears, but of a gritty black sand-like material is left on the surface of the paper. Pouring more water over the black material doesn't change how much of it there is.

Sample B is a solid yellow cube with a total mass of 50.0 g. The cube is put into a beaker filled with 250. mL of water. The cube collapses into a small pile of orange powder at the bottom of the beaker. When this powder is filtered out, dried and weighed, it has a total mass of 29.9 g. If the experiment is repeated with 500. mL of water, the powder that's left over has a mass of 10.0 g.

Looking at sample A, we can see that as water was poured over sample A, the sample was separated into its components as the powder disappeared leaving behind a gritty black sand-like material on the surface of the paper. A separation of the mixture has taken place.

In sample B, we can clearly see that it is a mixture because the amount of solid recovered is much less than the total mass of the solid put into the beaker. The sample must have been separated into its components.