Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table Lesson 5: Distillation
Teaching Ideas
Learning Objective: To understand how distillation and fractional distillation Resources
can be used to separate mixtures of liquids. distillation equipment
Targeting Assessment Objectives AO1, AO2
mixture of food colouring and water
Success Criteria: • To explain how simple distillation works.
whiteboards and pens
• To compare distillation and fractional distillation.
• To use data to identify different liquids.
Context: This is the fifth lesson for the Atomic Structure and
Periodic Table topic and covers the topic of distillation
and fractional distillation. Pupils will have already covered
distillation at KS3. They will be expected to recall that
solutions have different boiling points and a solvent
can be obtained from a solution using the processes of
evaporation and condensation.
Starter
Staying Alive
The pupils are told they are stranded on a desert island that has no fresh water, only salt water. How will they obtain water suitable
for drinking? The pupils may come up with a range of different ideas and you may want to spend some time discussing them
before moving onto the main activities. Many pupils will be looking at different ways of distilling the salt water, however, some
may suggest purifying urine. You may wish to prompt pupils by suggesting some of the equipment they might find on the island,
for example plastic bottles or tin cans. You could ask questions about how they could heat the sea water - would they build a fire
or use heat from the sun?
Main Activities
Simple Distillation
This is a teacher demonstration. If possible, have the apparatus already set up. Once all the pupils are in a place where they can
see the activity, carry out the distillation of a mixture of food colouring and water. It is worth spending time naming all the different
pieces of apparatus and explaining their part in the distillation. Pupils may not have seen a condenser before, so it would be useful
to also explain its function: to cool everything and therefore assist the condensing process. Having watched the demonstration,
pupils should then complete the Distillation Activity Sheet. This is a differentiated activity sheet. Higher-ability pupils are required
to label the apparatus, use keywords to explain the process of distillation and answer extension questions. Lower-ability pupils are
required to label the apparatus and use the keywords to complete the sentences. Hints are provided to help answer the extension
questions.
As an alternative to the teacher demonstration, you may even want pupils to carry out their own distillation practicals.
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Quick Assessment
Pupils are asked to explain why a mixture of water and ethanol can be separated by distillation. The answer is provided on the
PowerPoint.
Fractional Distillation
The slide shows a diagram of the equipment used to carry out fractional distillation. You may decide to spend time explaining how
fractional distillation works or you may ask pupils to apply the knowledge they have gained from the simple distillation to explain
this more complicated process. The following slide contains some key points for discussion with answers provided.
Exam-Style Question
The exam-style question provides information about the boiling points of three different fractions obtained from crude oil. From
the data provided, pupils are required to explain which of the fractions would have separated from the crude oil at a specific
temperature.
Plenary
Separating Mixtures Quiz
The quiz is a series of questions based on the separating techniques covered in the last few lessons. You may want all answers
written on whiteboards so that everybody is participating. Alternatively, you can split the class in half. Everybody has a whiteboard
to write their answer. All correct answers score a point and the winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the quiz.
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