Im doing my lab report about steam distillation?

Question

and its asking me how i can tell if the two compounds i steam distilled are pure. but im not sure how to tell? i mean is the volatile or the nonvolatile compound the pure compound? or maybe the boiling point is what tells me if its pure? please help!

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_distillation

Answer 2

thanks, but didn't really find the answer to my question...

Answer 3

You could definately check the boiling points to see if they are pure but that would kind of defeat the purpose of steam distillation. What compounds are you working with? Could you do some other test?