Fraccionación

Fraccionación is a Spanish term that translates to "fractionation" in English. It refers to the process of separating a mixture into its constituent components, or fractions, based on differences in their physical or chemical properties. This is a fundamental concept used across various scientific and industrial fields.

In chemistry, fractional distillation is a common method of separating liquids with different boiling points. The mixture is heated, and as vapors rise, they cool and condense at different temperatures, allowing for the collection of distinct fractions. This technique is widely employed in the petroleum industry to separate crude oil into valuable products like gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel.

Beyond distillation, fraccionación can also be applied to other separation techniques. For example, fractional crystallization separates solids based on their solubility differences. In chromatography, fraccionación is achieved by separating components based on their differential partitioning between a stationary and a mobile phase. The principle remains the same: exploiting variations in properties to achieve separation. The term is also used in finance to describe the division of a company's stock into a larger number of shares, a process known as stock splitting. This is done to make the stock price more accessible to a wider range of investors.