Which process separates liquids by boiling points?

• A. Filtration
• B. Chromatography
• C. Distillation
• D. Evaporation

Answer: (C)

Separating liquids by boiling points hinges on differences in volatility. Distillation uses this by heating the liquid mixture until the component with the lower boiling point boils off first. The vapor is then condensed back into a separate liquid and collected, leaving the higher-boiling liquid behind. This approach works well when the boiling points are noticeably different, and a fractionating column can help when they’re closer together by repeatedly condensing and re-evaporating portions of the vapor to improve separation. Evaporation alone would just turn a liquid into vapor without capturing and isolating the components, so it doesn’t cleanly separate two liquids with different boiling points. Filtration and chromatography separate based on size or interactions, not boiling points.