It is virtually impossible to do research in any physical or life science and not encounter the need to perform separations of some kind. Man-made and natural processes all include complex mixtures of molecules which often need to be separated into individual components in order to identify unknowns or quantify particular amounts. Would you take an aspirin tablet if you were unsure of what types of impurities were in it? Would you put crude oil into the gasoline tank of your car? Would you bathe in water that came directly from your sewer? The examples are endless. The point is that analytical separations tell you what and how much of a particular substance of interest are present in a mixture. This knowledge and control are crucial to preserving quality of life. In this talk, we will look at the basic science of performing separations for various molecules and settings. This will include the use of techniques such as distillation, chromatography, and other important separation methods in everyday life and modern-day research.