When you stir two things together you make a mixture — but some mixtures vanish into a clear liquid and others stay lumpy. Today you'll learn the difference, then you will predict what each mixture does.
Before we start — stir sugar into water and it vanishes; stir in sand and it doesn't — why the difference?
A mixture is two or more things physically mixed together — not chemically joined. Each thing keeps its own properties, and you can separate them again (unlike when atoms react to make a brand-new substance).
If one thing dissolves evenly into another, you get a solution. The thing that dissolves is the solute (like salt); the thing it dissolves into is the solvent (like water).
A homogeneous mixture looks the same all the way through — you can't see the separate parts (salt water, air). A heterogeneous mixture is uneven — you can see the different parts (a salad, sand in water).