What is the process of distillation primarily used for?

The process of distillation is primarily used to separate components of a liquid mixture based on their boiling points. This technique involves heating a liquid mixture to a temperature where one or more components vaporize. The vapor is then cooled and condensed back into a liquid, isolating that particular component from the original mixture. This method is effective because different substances have distinct boiling points, allowing for effective separation.

In terms of the other choices, combining different liquids into a single solution is not specific to distillation. Rather, it involves mixing without any separation occurring. Creating a new solid from liquid reactants typically refers to precipitation or crystallization processes, not distillation. Lastly, while converting liquid solutions into gases might happen during distillation as a part of the process, the primary purpose of distillation is to achieve separation based on boiling points rather than analysis.