Definition
A process of separating the components of a liquid mixture by heating the mixture until each component vaporizes at its own boiling point, then cooling the vapor back into a liquid and collecting it. In aviation, distillation is how crude oil is separated into different fuels and lubricants, including aviation gasoline and jet fuel.
Plain English
Heating a liquid until parts of it turn to vapor, then cooling that vapor back into a liquid to separate it from the rest. It is how crude oil gets refined into the different fuels pilots use.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation fuel, fuel refining, and fuel quality discussions, especially when describing gasoline or turbine fuel properties.
Derivation
From the Latin distillare, meaning 'to drip down.' The name comes from the original process: heated vapor would rise, cool against a surface, and drip down as a purified liquid. That image still describes what is happening today.
Why Pilots Care
Different aviation fuels come from different stages of the same distillation process. Knowing this helps explain why avgas, jet fuel, and kerosene have different boiling ranges, vapor pressures, and cold-weather behavior.
Grounding Statement
Picture heating a liquid until part of it boils away, then catching and cooling that vapor so it becomes liquid again.
Intuition Check
Distillation does not only mean making alcohol. In aviation, it usually means separating or testing fuel by how its different parts boil.
Example Sentence 1
Avgas and jet fuel are both produced by the distillation of crude oil, but they come from different temperature ranges in the process.
Example Sentence 2
The boiling range collected during distillation determines whether the resulting fuel suits piston engines or turbine engines.