Chemistry Signature Assignment

Chemistry 1010
Definition:
Distillation: The action of purifying a liquid by a process of heating and cooling. (Google
definition)

The concept of distillation has been around for thousands of years.

Tracking it origins the alchemists of Alexandria with the distillation
of water. Almost every culture that had chemistry used distillation to
aid in experiments and in the manufacturing of products, such as
alcohols, perfumes and distilled water. Today it is also used in the production of gasoline.

The process of distillation varies depending on what is being distilled. The concepts however
are the same. The first step is heat water or whatever is being distilled. You bring this to its
vaporization point and direct it with the use of tube. The steam moves through the tubes to a
condensation chamber. The temperature is cooler and brings it back to its liquid state. The liquid
continues through the tube to its end end destination.

So how does this purify a liquid such as salt

water? The answer is that salt and water have
different boiling point. The water is vaporized and
the salt is not. So we can also use distillation to separate not only the substance that is
vaporized but also the substance that is not, in this case salt.
A slightly more complex distillation is steam distillation. Which was
mentioned above. This is used in making essential oils from flower and other
plant matter. Instead of boiling the plant material itself, water is boiled and
the water vapor is forced through the material releasing the heat sensitive
(volatile) oil. The vaporized oil and water are both condensed and collected.
The oil and water have different densities and separate from each other. A
separation funnel is used to collect the different products in different
containers.

The amount of essential oils contained in plant material are very small and so plant material
required for distillation is always in kilograms. For example the common essential oil lavender,
has an oil percentage yield of approximately 1.5%. The chemical composition of peppermint oil
is C10H20O. In order to make 10 ml of oil you would need approximately 1kg of peppermint
plant material.

In distillation discoveries today it has been found that when tequila is vaporized at 500 c it forms
micro diamonds. These diamond are usable in manufacturing but not jewelry.