Sugar in mixtures and solutions

Mixtures and Solutions

• In North America, long before European settlers arrived, First Nations people were processing the sap from maple trees.

Making maple syrup

• Although the equipment used today is different, the basic process of making maple syrup has changed very little.

• The sugar maple tree is found in many areas of the world, but only NE North America has the proper climate for sap production.

• Sugar maples reach a tappable size in about 40 years.

• A tree produces about 12 L of sap per day under ideal conditions.

The sugar maple tree

The sugar maple tree

The leaves of the tree make the food that the tree needs to grow.

The sugar maple tree

Some of this food will be stored in the roots for the following spring.

The sugar maple tree

The sap that rises in the trunk during the spring carries food and water from the roots that are needed for the buds to develop into leaves.

1. In early spring, spiles (small tubes) are driven into the trunks.

2. The sap from many trees is collected in buckets.

3. The sap is poured into large boilers where most of the water is evaporated off.

• Evaporation that is too slow or too fast will affect the colour, flavour, and texture of the syrup.

A dilute solution is a solution that contains relatively little solute.

A concentrated solution is a solution that contains a lot of solute for the amount of solvent.

A dilute solution is a solution that contains relatively little solute.

A concentrated solution is a solution that contains a lot of solute for the amount of solvent.

Concentration – with maple syrup they evaporate the water to make a more concentrated solution

6 drops of dye in 40 mL of water

6 drops of dye in 1 mL

Boil Off 39 mL

Dilute Concentrated

Both dilute and concentrated are different ways to describe the concentration

of a solution.

*concentration – how much solute has been dissolved in the solvent.

The concentration of a solution can be either dilute or concentrated

Making honey

• Bees make honey from a solution of water and sugar called nectar.

• Nectar is collected from flowers and then stored in the open cells of the beehive.

• Bees fan their wings in front of the cells to evaporate the excess water in the nectar.

• As the water content drops (from 70% to 20%) honey is produced.

Western Canada uses domestically grown sugar beets as the raw ingredient for its sugar.

Eastern Canada produces most of its sugar using imported sugar cane as the raw ingredient.

4: spinning

3: evaporation

2: crushing & washing

Making sugar from sugar cane1: delivery

5: After spinning, the liquid (molasses) is separated from the brown sugar crystals. These can be further processed to produce white sugar.

• SALT – salt is produced in a similar fashion. The salt water will become more and more concentrated as the water evaporates.

• If all of the water evaporates, you are left with solid salt.

• Salt Farm Video