ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Dry distillation

Hi there! So, dry distillation is a way of getting useful things out of stuff by heating it up without any oxygen around. Let's say you have wood. If you put that wood in a fire and let it burn, it won't really be useful anymore. But if you heat it up without any oxygen, you can get some really cool stuff out of it.

So, when you heat up wood without any oxygen, it turns into a bunch of different things. One of those things is a sticky substance called tar, which people used to use to make things like roads and waterproof boats. Another thing you can get is a gas called methane, which is often used for heating and cooking.

Now, dry distillation isn't just limited to wood. You can also use it on other things like coal, which can give you a bunch of gases that are used for things like lighting and heating. And you can even use it on organic materials like animal bones to get things like charcoal and bone black.

So, in conclusion, dry distillation is a cool way of getting useful things out of stuff by heating it up without any oxygen around. And you can do it with all sorts of materials, from wood to coal to animal bones. And that's pretty neat!
Related topics others have asked about: