I understand that boiling water with salt in it, you end up with just salt. But, How does it work with two liquids? Wouldn’t they just mix and end up with the same boiling point?
In: Chemistry
It *can* get more complicated, but not always. However, in general, it’s pretty simple. One of the components boils and the other does not.
In reality both components produce vapor, one just produces *more* vapor. Your distillate will favor the one with a higher vapor pressure, but you get both.
By doing multiple distillations you can improve your results, to a point. Some substances do actually ‘seek out’ a particular mixture when you distill them. Water and alcohol, for instance, and this makes alcohol distillation above 96% impossible.
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