opening the stopper at the top of the funnel routinely while mixing. More standard procedure is to invert the separating funnel upside down, and open the stopcock to release the pressure, a step done repeatedly known as 'venting'. This should be done with the tip of the funnel pointed away from the body. Gallery See also Decantation is a process of pouring off the top layer of liquid from a bottom layer of liquid or solid Decanter centrifuge Dropping funnels are similar in shape and design, and may be used as separatory funnels. They have standard taper ground glass joints at the stem. Partition coefficient is a measure of the distribution of an analyte between the two phases in a separation. References Laboratory equipment Laboratory techniques Analytical chemistry Alchemical processes