Final answer:
To separate iron filings from a mixture of salt, sand, and wood chips, use a magnet to take advantage of magnetism. Then, dissolve the salt in water and use filtration to separate the sand and wood chips. Finally, use evaporation to obtain the salt and distillation if recovering the water is desired.
Step-by-step explanation:
To separate a mixture of iron filings, salt, sand, and wood chips, we can use their physical properties to our advantage. To separate the iron filings, we use a magnet due to the property of magnetism which only iron filings have among the other components. This method is straightforward, as the magnet attracts the filings and you can remove them from the mixture.
Next, we can add water to dissolve the salt. This involves taking advantage of the solubility property of salt in water. After the salt is dissolved, filtration can be used to separate the sand and wood chips from the now saline solution. The sand and the wood chips will be retained by the filter, while the salt solution passes through.
Following filtration, sand and wood chips that remain can be separated based on their difference in size or buoyancy, for example, using sieving or simply by handpicking. The saline solution can be heated to evaporate the water, which leaves the salt behind. This process is known as evaporation, and if we want to recover the water as well, we can use distillation. The water vapor is condensed backed into a liquid, leaving the salt in the distillation flask.