Question

How could we separate a mixture of water and alcohol?

Alcohol boils at 78°C

Water boils at ? °C

If you heated a mixture of water and alcohol which would boil first?

Answer 1

• We separate a mixture of water and alcohol by fractional distillation method.

• If we heat a mixture of water and alcohol then alcohol will boil first as its boiling point is lesser than that of water.

Answer 2

Alcohol maybe ethanol at 95.4% and water at 4.6% make up minimum boiling azeotropes.
They are the mixtures which don't boil differently but they boil at common temperature and cannot be separated.
But if you change their concentrations you can separate them through fractional distillation.