ShmoopTube

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Here's your shmoop du jour:

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Here's a passage for you to hit pause and review.

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Sorry we didn't have time to wrap it.

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Why do you think that the filter paper will not remove the salt from the water?

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Here are the potential answers...

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What's this question asking?

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Well, there are three key components... filter paper, salt, and water.

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The thing about the ACT tests is that the answer to every question is hidden somewhere inside.

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You don't have to commit any massive textbooks to memory

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before sitting down with your number 2... pencil.

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Okay... so it's NOT so hidden in this case.

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Take a look at the third sentence of the passage: 

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This step will remove any components of a mixture

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that are not dissolved in the aqueous mixture...

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'This step' refers to passing a mixture through a filter.

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What is this question asking again?

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Could it be asking...why the filter paper will not remove salt from water?

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Maybe it's because 'the salt, but not the sand, was dissolved in the water'.

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Yeah, straight from the information they gave us.

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And combining the information from the two sentences...

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...we get that the salt is dissolved in the water...and that the step will remove any

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components of a mixture that are NOT dissolved.

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Since salt is dissolved, it cannot be removed. Looks like option B's our answer.

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And, if we want to be absolutely positive that we've got the right one... we can prove

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that the other options are all incorrect:

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We're using filter paper here, not a blowtorch, so the water won't be boiling away.

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C is definitely out.

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Distillation comes after the paper filter.

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Time travel has yet to be invented, so we can toss out (A). 

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Now for (D). If the salt crystals were too large to fit on the paper, they'd separate

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out of the water too, along with the sand.

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But no, sand and salt are different, so we still need to distill the water.

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D isn't right either.

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Yep, definitely B.

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Well done. This problem was no day at the beach.

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