Composition of Air

• Air

  • Air is a mixture of gases
  • Nitrogen - 78%
  • Oxygen - 21%
  • Carbon Dioxide - 0.04%
  • Water vapour, noble gases (mainly argon) and other gases (0.96%)
• Fractional Distillation of Air


  • the components of air can be separated by fractional distillation as they have different boiling points which are quite close to one another
  • BP of argon : -186 degree Celsius
  • BP of nitrogen : -196 degree Celsius
  • BP of oxygen : -183 degree Celsius
  • Nitrogen gas, which has the lowest boiling point, is distilled over first during fractional distillation, followed by argon and lastly oxygen, which has the highest boiling point