How is water purified by distillation?

Distillation purifies water by using evaporation.

The Distillation Process Explained

Distillation is a purification method that leverages the different boiling points of water and its contaminants. Here's a detailed breakdown of how it works, incorporating the provided reference:

• Heating the Water: The process begins by heating contaminated water. This increases the water's temperature, eventually leading to a phase change from liquid to steam (water vapor).

  • Reference Insight: As stated in the provided reference, "Contaminated water is heated to form steam."

• Separation: Crucially, most impurities do not turn into a gaseous state like water. These include:

  • Inorganic compounds such as salts and minerals.

  • Large, non-volatile organic molecules.

  • Reference Insight: The reference notes that "Inorganic compounds and large non-volatile organic molecules do not evaporate with the water and are left behind."

• Steam Collection: The pure water vapor (steam), now separated from impurities, is then carefully directed into a cooling chamber.

• Condensation: In the cooling chamber, the steam cools down. As it loses heat, the water vapor condenses back into a liquid, which is now purified water.

• Collection of Purified Water: Finally, the condensed, purified water is collected, free of the original contaminants.

Advantages of Distillation

• High Purity: Distillation removes a wide array of impurities, making it effective for achieving high levels of water purification.
• Removes Inorganic & Non-Volatile Organic Compounds: As the reference points out, this method removes many contaminants that are hard to filter out with other methods.

Limitations of Distillation

While effective, it's worth noting that distillation:

• Energy Intensive: Requires significant energy input to heat water to boiling.
• Doesn't Remove Some Volatile Compounds: Some volatile organic compounds might evaporate along with water, requiring additional steps.

Summary in Table Format

Step	Description
Heating	Contaminated water is heated until it turns into steam.
Separation	Most impurities (salts, large non-volatile organics) are left behind.
Steam Collection	Pure water vapor (steam) is guided to a cooling chamber.
Condensation	Steam cools and condenses back into pure water.
Collection	Purified water is collected.