Separating funnel

So you know how sometimes you have different things mixed together in a cup or a jar, like water and oil or sand and rocks? A separating funnel is kind of like a special jar with a tiny hole in the bottom and a spout on the side. We use it to help separate those things that are mixed together.

What we do is we pour the mixed-up stuff into the separating funnel and let it sit for a little bit. Then, because the things in the mixture have different weights, they'll start separating and going to different places in the funnel.

The heavier stuff will sink to the bottom and the lighter stuff will float to the top. Then we can gently pour out the heavier stuff from the bottom of the funnel, stopping just before the lighter stuff starts coming out. We can pour the lighter stuff out from the spout on the side of the funnel.

Now we have two different things instead of one mixed-up thing! We can use the separating funnel to separate lots of different mixtures, like water and oil or even liquids that have the same weight but aren't mixed together very well. It's pretty cool!