Water Distillation - a Constant Phenomenon
Human beings have put to use the system of water distillation for hundreds of years which has been present in nature ever since time began. It still is an effective yet straightforward system of purifying water by eradicating majority of bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms, along with other contaminants.
The Hydrologic Cycle which is otherwise known as the Water Cycle, describes the process that moves water around the earth. In straightforward language, it signifies that the sunlight increases the temperature of the water in our oceans, rivers and lakes, which then causes the water to evaporate and ascend into the air. The water vapour after that cools down and condenses to form clouds, which then turn out to be heavy with water and sooner or later rain back down to earth. Man soon realised that by heating the ocean or river water, and accumulating the condensed vapour, he could emulate this process to generate a purified drinking water source.
This process has subsequently been used in lots of ways to separate mixtures based on their diverse boiling points. Crude oil is distilled to split the different components for their specific uses such as heating, power generation and transportation. Air is distilled to break up the oxygen, nitrogen and argon components for industrial use. Most notably perhaps and dating back as far as the 2nd millennium BC, distillation techniques were applied to generate alcoholic beverages. The procedure was also used beginning from the 11th century to turn out vital oils and other herbal tinctures.
Modern day uses for distilled water in the house include topping up your car battery, filling your steam iron and filling fish tanks. Distilled water is also extensively used in industry, including the manufacturing of various chemical and medical products, such as medicines, vaccines and intravenous solutions.