fractionation
frak-shuh-NAY-shun
Definition
The process of separating a mixture into different components or fractions, often based on differences in physical properties like density, boiling point, or chemical affinity.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin word 'fractio' (a breaking), the term combines the root 'fraction' with the suffix '-ation' to describe the act of breaking a substance down into constituent parts.
In the news
The article uses the term to describe how chemical compounds separate as they travel from the subsurface ocean through rising ice plumes, complicating efforts to infer the true composition of the original water.
Enceladus hides a salty ocean beneath its ice but also blasts that ocean directly into space, which means a spacecraft can test water from a potentially habitable sea simply by flying through the plume — no landing, drilling, or journey through kilometres of froz
Read the full article ↗Space Daily