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Characteristics of mixtures

All mixtures can be characterized as being separable by mechanical means (e.g. purification, distillation, electrolysis, chromatography, heat, filtration, gravitational sorting, centrifugation). Mixtures differ from chemical compounds in the following ways:

In the example of sand and water, neither one of the two substances changed in any way when they are mixed. Although the sand is in the water it still keeps the same properties that it had when it was outside the water.

The following table shows the main properties and examples for all possible phase combinations of the three "families" of mixtures: