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Chemistry vocabulary · Laboratory Equipment and Techniques

Distillation

Meaning in chemistry, with examples

/ˌdɪstɪˈleɪʃn/nounCommon term

In chemistry, distillation means: A method of separating or purifying liquids by boiling a mixture and cooling the vapor so that it condenses and is collected separately. It relies on differences in boiling point.

In Turkish: damıtma, distilasyon

How it is used

Used in organic labs and in industry. You set up or carry out a distillation; simple distillation separates liquids with very different boiling points, fractional distillation separates close ones. The collected liquid is the distillate.

Example sentences

  1. We purified the crude ester by distillation under reduced pressure.

  2. Never heat a distillation flask to dryness.

Common collocations

  • simple distillation
  • fractional distillation
  • vacuum distillation
  • steam distillation
  • distillation apparatus
  • refluxBoiling a reaction mixture for a long time with a condenser fitted on top, so that the vapor condenses and drips back into the flask and no solvent is lost.
  • filtrationA method of separating a solid from a liquid by passing the mixture through filter paper or another porous material that lets only the liquid through.
  • recrystallizationA purification method in which a solid is dissolved in a small amount of hot solvent and left to cool slowly, so that pure crystals form and impurities stay in solution.
  • solventThe substance, usually a liquid, that dissolves another substance to form a solution. Water is the most common one; ethanol, acetone and hexane are widely used organic ones.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Laboratory Equipment and Techniques

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