Why is vegetable soup a heterogeneous mixture?

* It has visible, distinct parts: You can easily see the different ingredients like carrots, potatoes, peas, beans, etc. They maintain their individual identities and are not evenly distributed throughout the soup.

* It's not a uniform composition: Each spoonful of soup may contain different amounts of each ingredient. The distribution of ingredients is uneven.

* Components can be separated: You could use a strainer or other methods to separate the solid ingredients from the broth.

In contrast, a homogeneous mixture (like saltwater) has a uniform composition and its components are indistinguishable.