Hands-on learning in science lab

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The chemistry students used the process known as fractional distillation to separate a mixture of ethanol and water. The two liquids have different boiling points.  The ethanol with the lower boiling point evaporates first, enters the cooler glass condenser, returns to the liquid state, and drips into the Erlenmeyer flask, leaving the water behind in the Florence flask. They also learned that using boiling chips helps to “calm” the boiling process.