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What is distillation?

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Quick answer

Distillation is a way to separate liquids by boiling and then re-condensing them. Because different substances boil at different temperatures, heating a mixture lets you collect each part as it vaporizes — used to purify water, make spirits, and refine oil.

Key things to understand

  1. A mixture is heated until one component boils into vapor.
  2. The vapor is cooled and condensed back into a separate liquid.
  3. Substances separate because they have different boiling points.
  4. It purifies water and produces alcoholic spirits.
  5. Oil refineries use it to split crude oil into fuels.

People also ask

How does distillation separate liquids?
The mixture is heated so the lower-boiling component vaporizes first; that vapor is cooled back to liquid and collected separately.
What is distillation used for?
Purifying water, making spirits like whiskey, refining crude oil into gasoline and diesel, and producing many industrial chemicals.
What is fractional distillation?
A version that separates several components at once by their different boiling points — how a refinery splits crude oil into many fuels.