eli5 – how does the process of purifying metals goes?
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I described zone melting, electrolysis and chemical purification in your other post. Smelting is the most common and crudest method, and relies on the fact that bulk contaminants are often both lighter than, and insoluble in, the molten metal. They form a crust on top of the melt which can be skimmed off.
Isotope separation on the other hand is an especially accurate method, which can separate atoms of the same metal which differ slightly in weight. This is important for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons, where the exact composition of the atomic nucleus makes a major difference in how they react.
There are several methods for this, but the most common is using a bunch of centrifuges and a gaseous compound of the metal. the heavier isotope is slightly more concentrated near the outer edge of the centrifuge, but lots and lots of centrifuge stages are needed in order to make a meaningful difference.
A method used in the US for the WWII atomic bombs was to accelerate the desired atoms in a particle accelerator, and bend the resulting beam using a big magnet. The heavier atoms bent less than the lighter ones, so the beams could be separated and captured. They borrowed 14700 tons of silver from the US treasury in order to build the magnetic coils for this, because copper (which is commonly used for this) was in short supply as it was needed for the war effort.
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