(P) Distillation

• Distillation is used to separate mixtures which contain liquids
• 1. Simple distillation is used for separating out a liquid from a solution
• 2. The solution is heated. The part of the solution that has the lowest boiling point evaporated first
• 3. The vapour is then cooled, condenses and is collected
• 4. The rest of the solution is left behind in the flask
• You can use simple distillation to get pure water from seawater. The water evaporates and is condensed and collected. Eventually you'll end up with just the salt left in the flask
• The problem with simple distillation is that you can only use it to separate things with very different boiling points.
• If the temperature goes higher than the boiling point of the substance with the higher boiling point, they will mix again
• If you have a mixture of liquids with similar boiling points, you need to use fractional distillation