WorksheetPremium

Mixing Clues at the Desert Date Festival

Investigate mixtures at a desert festival using bubbling data, comparison tests, and salt-recovery evidence.

Grade 5ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to5-PS1-4

Buy this worksheet: $1.50

Or unlock every Premium worksheet with Premium

PrintUnlock to print

Answer keyUnlock to see answers

Assign to classUnlock to assign with a class code

What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use observations from mixing tests to judge whether a new substance likely formed.
Students distinguish evidence of a new substance from dissolving or trapped air.
Students plan comparisons that control amounts and mixing methods.

How to use

Read the passage and graph together, then have students evaluate the evidence independently. The described tests can be studied without performing them.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

5-PS1-4

Investigate whether mixing two or more substances makes a new substance.

Preview

OwlSheets.com

Name Date

Mixing Clues at the Desert Date Festival

Use test results to investigate whether mixing makes a new substance.

Read the Mixing Records

Read the passage and graph. Use the recorded evidence, not guesses about the ingredients.

A Test Table Among the Dunes

At a date festival beside desert dunes, volunteers set up a science table near the refreshment tent. Their question was whether mixing familiar food ingredients could make a new substance. Nia helped record the tests. The team used water, lemon juice, baking soda, and table salt. An adult supervised. Students wore safety glasses, kept the mixtures away from their faces, and did not taste them.

Before mixing, the team observed each ingredient in a separate cup. Water and lemon juice were liquids. Baking soda was a white powder. Salt had small white crystals. None showed steady bubbling while sitting undisturbed. The team then used four identical open cups. Each liquid began at room temperature. They measured the amounts, used a clean stirring stick for each cup, and stirred each mixture for ten seconds.

Mix A contained two tablespoons of water and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix B contained two tablespoons of water and one-quarter teaspoon of baking soda. Mix C contained two tablespoons of lemon juice and one-quarter teaspoon of baking soda. Mix D contained two tablespoons of water and one-quarter teaspoon of salt. The team timed how long steady bubbling continued after stirring stopped. A few bubbles appeared during stirring in several cups, but those brief bubbles were not counted.

In the first round, Mix C kept bubbling for forty seconds after stirring stopped. The other mixtures had no steady bubbling after stirring. Fresh batches gave similar results: Mix C bubbled for fifty seconds in the second round and forty seconds in the third. The other mixtures again had no steady bubbling after stirring.

The salt grains in Mix D became too small to see. The team saved some of that mixture in a shallow dish. They put plain water in a matching dish. Both dishes sat in the same protected place until the liquid evaporated over several days. Small white crystals remained in the mixture dish. No visible solid remained in the plain-water dish. The team compared these results before writing its conclusions.