DISTILLATION (noun)

 

The separation of a mixture of liquid chemicals (i.e. solution) into its components by heating the solution in a special flask until one of the components boils. The hot vapours then rise until they encounter a cold section of the flask, upon which the vapours instantly condense and drip into a collecting flask.

The temperature inside the flask containing the mixture will not rise until all of that component has boiled off. The temperature then rises until it reaches the boiling point of the second component, at which time a new collecting flask is used to capture this second chemical.

This process can be continually repeated until all the liquid components with the flask have been separated, as long as they all have boiling points that differ from each other by at least 5°C.

Example: a mixture of acetone, methanol, ethanol and water can be separated by distillation as the boiling points for the four compounds are 57, 65, 79, and 100°C, respectively.