The element that can be refined by distillation is :

Solution

Chemistry ma’am · 3 steps

Distillation needs a metal that boils easily, so look for the low boiling point, not the low melting point.

1. How distillation works. The impure metal is heated until the metal itself turns to vapour. Impurities with much higher boiling points stay behind, and the vapour is condensed as pure metal. This only works for metals with a low boiling point, such as Zn, Cd and Hg.

   Metal	Boiling point	Usual refining method
   Gallium	about 2400 °C	zone refining
   Nickel	about 2900 °C	Mond process (via Ni(CO)₄)
   Zinc	about 907 °C	distillation
   Tin	about 2600 °C	liquation

2. Compare. Zinc boils below 1000 °C, so it vaporises easily and leaves impurities behind. The other three boil above 2000 °C, far too high for distillation to be practical.
3. So. The metal refined by distillation is zinc, option (c).

The idea to keep. Match each refining method to the property it uses: distillation needs a low boiling point (Zn, Cd, Hg), liquation a low melting point (Sn), Mond a volatile carbonyl (Ni), zone refining very high purity (Ga, Si, Ge).

Answer from the NTA final answer key. Solution by PrepWiser.