Simple distillation is used to separate out solution

• Simple distillation is used for separating out a liquid from a solution

• The solution is heated. The part of the solution that has the lowest boiling point evaporates first

• The vapour is then cooled, condenses and is collected

• Th 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 condenses 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 thing 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

  • Make sure the water goes in at the bottom of the condenser and out at the top

• If you have a mixture of liquids with similar boiling points you need another method to separate them-like fractional distillation

Fractional distillation is used to separate a mixture of liquids

• If you’ve got a mixture of liquids you can separate it using fractional distillation. Here is a lab demonstration used to model fractional distillation of crude oil at a a refinery

  • You put your mixture in a flask and stick a fractionating column o top. Then you heat it.

    • The different liquids will all have different boiling points-so they will evaporate at different temperatures

  • The liquid with the lowest boiling point evaporates first. When the e temperature on the thermometer matches the boiling point of this liquid, it will react the top of the column

  • Liquids with higher boiling points might also start to evaporate. But the column is cooler towards the top. So they will only get part of the way up before condensing and running back down towards the flask

  • When the first liquid has been collected, you raise the temperature until the next one reaches the top