Q1.
Can you identify a few more examples of non-uniform mixtures around you?
Answer
Yes — any mixture whose components you can still pick out with your eyes or with a magnifying device is non-uniform.
- Sand mixed with water, and muddy water after rain
- A dish of rajma-chawal, or vegetable pulao with peas and carrot
- Chana and moori (puffed rice) mixed in a chaat
- Unfiltered honey with bits of wax in it
- Soil — you can see grains of sand, bits of leaf and small stones
- Oil floating on water
- A handful of mixed dal before it is cooked
Why it happens: In these mixtures the components stay in separate lumps or layers large enough for the eye to resolve, so the mixture is not the same everywhere. Take one spoon from the top of muddy water and one from the bottom and you get two different things — that is the test of a non-uniform mixture.