Precipitation (chemistry)

In chemistry, precipitation is the condensation of a solid from a solution. This occurs when the solution is saturated, whereupon the solid forms from the solute phase, and usually sinks to the bottom of the solution. This effect is useful in many industrial and scientific applications whereby a chemical reaction may produce a solid that can be collected from the solution by various methods (e.g. filtration, decanting, centrifuging).

See also: crystallization.