Distillation

Separating by boiling point

An interactive lesson with 5 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Each boil-and-condense stage enriches the more volatile liquid.
• Close boiling points need many stages: fractionating columns.
• Azeotropes (like 95.6% ethanol) can’t be beaten by distillation alone.

Steps

1. Richer in the vapour
2. Ninety-five percent
3. Close boiling points
4. A limit: azeotropes
5. How strong is the spirit?