Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil

Understand Distillation and Intermolecular Forces with this Real Life Application.

Crude oil is a complex mixture of many useful hydrocarbons, such as gasoline, kerosene, butane, and motor oil. In order to be of use, these hydrocarbons must first be separated from each other. The process of separation, known as fractional distillation, takes advantage of the fact that these components have varying boiling and condensation points. In this activity, students will complete a fractional distillation experiment to simulate the fractionation of crude oil. As part of this activity students will understand how a difference in boiling points can be utilized to separate a solution with three different components and how intramolecular forces can affect the boiling point of a substance.