title: Sulla

text: The proscriptions are widely perceived as a response to similar killings that Marius and Cinna had implemented while they controlled the Republic during Sulla's absence. Proscribing or outlawing every one of those whom he perceived to have acted against the best interests of the Republic while he was in the east, Sulla ordered some 1,500 nobles (i.e. senators and "equites") executed, although as many as 9,000 people were estimated to have been killed. The purge went on for several months. Helping or sheltering a proscribed person was punishable by death, while killing a proscribed person was rewarded with two talents. Family members of the proscribed were not excluded from punishment, and slaves were not excluded from rewards. As a result, "husbands were butchered in the arms of their wives, sons in the arms of their mothers." The majority of the proscribed had not been enemies of Sulla, but instead were killed for their property, which was confiscated and auctioned off. The proceeds from auctioned property more than made up for the cost of rewarding those who killed the proscribed, filling the treasury. Possibly to protect himself from future political retribution, Sulla had the sons and grandsons of the proscribed banned from running for political office, a restriction not removed for over 30 years.


title: Sulla

text: The young Gaius Julius Caesar, as Cinna's son-in-law, became one of Sulla's targets, and fled the city. He was saved through the efforts of his relatives, many of whom were Sulla's supporters, but Sulla noted in his memoirs that he regretted sparing Caesar's life, because of the young man's notorious ambition. Historian Suetonius records that when agreeing to spare Caesar, Sulla warned those who were pleading his case that he would become a danger to them in the future, saying, "In this Caesar, there are many Mariuses."


title: Sulla

text: At the end of 82 BC or the beginning of 81 BC, the Senate appointed Sulla "dictator legibus faciendis et reipublicae constituendae causa" ("dictator for the making of laws and for the settling of the constitution"). The assembly of the people subsequently ratified the decision, with no limit set on his time in office. Sulla had total control of the city and Republic of Rome, except for Hispania (which Marius' general Quintus Sertorius had established as an independent state). This unusual appointment (used hitherto only in times of extreme danger to the city, such as during the Second Punic War, and then only for 6-month periods) represented an exception to Rome's policy of not giving total power to a single individual. Sulla can be seen as setting the precedent for Julius Caesar's dictatorship, and for the eventual end of the Republic under Augustus.


title: Sulla

text: Sulla, who opposed the Gracchian "popularis" reforms, was an "optimate"; though his coming to the side of the traditional Senate originally could be described as atavistic when dealing with the tribunate and legislative bodies, while more visionary when reforming the court system, governorships, and membership of the Senate. As such, he sought to strengthen the aristocracy, and thus the Senate. Sulla retained his earlier reforms, which required senatorial approval before any bill could be submitted to the Plebeian Council (the principal popular assembly), and which had also restored the older, more aristocratic "Servian" organization to the Centuriate Assembly (assembly of soldiers). Sulla, himself a patrician, thus ineligible for election to the office of Plebeian Tribune, thoroughly disliked the office. As Sulla viewed the office, the tribunate was especially dangerous, and his intention was to not only deprive the Tribunate of power, but also of prestige (Sulla himself had been officially deprived of his eastern command through the underhanded activities of a tribune). Over the previous 300 years, the tribunes had directly challenged the patrician class and attempted to deprive it of power in favor of the plebeian class. Through Sulla's reforms to the Plebeian Council, tribunes lost the power to initiate legislation. Sulla then prohibited ex-tribunes from ever holding any other office, so ambitious individuals would no longer seek election to the tribunate, since such an election would end their political career. Finally, Sulla revoked the power of the tribunes to veto acts of the Senate, although he left intact the tribunes' power to protect individual Roman citizens.


title: Sulla

text: Sulla then increased the number of magistrates elected in any given year, and required that all newly elected "quaestores" gain automatic membership in the Senate. These two reforms were enacted primarily to allow Sulla to increase the size of the Senate from 300 to 600 senators. This also removed the need for the "censor" to draw up a list of senators, since more than enough former magistrates were always available to fill the Senate. To further solidify the prestige and authority of the Senate, Sulla transferred the control of the courts from the" equites", who had held control since the Gracchi reforms, to the senators. This, along with the increase in the number of courts, further added to the power that was already held by the senators. Sulla also codified, and thus established definitively, the "cursus honorum", which required an individual to reach a certain age and level of experience before running for any particular office. Sulla also wanted to reduce the risk that a future general might attempt to seize power, as he himself had done. To this end, he reaffirmed the requirement that any individual wait for 10 years before being re-elected to any office. Sulla then established a system where all consuls and praetors served in Rome during their year in office, and then commanded a provincial army as a governor for the year after they left office.


title: Sulla

text: Finally, in a demonstration of his absolute power, Sulla expanded the Pomerium, the sacred boundary of Rome, unchanged since the time of the kings. Sulla's reforms both looked to the past (often repassing former laws) and regulated for the future, particularly in his redefinition of "maiestas" (treason) laws and in his reform of the Senate.


title: Sulla

text: At the start of his second consulship in 80 BC with Metellus Pius, Sulla resigned his dictatorship. He also disbanded his legions and, through these gestures, attempted to show the re-establishment of normal consular government. He dismissed his" lictores" and walked unguarded in the Forum, offering to give account of his actions to any citizen. In a manner that the historian Suetonius thought arrogant, Julius Caesar later mocked Sulla for resigning the dictatorship.


title: Sulla

text: As promised, when his tasks were complete, Sulla returned his powers and withdrew to his country villa near Puteoli to be with his family. Plutarch states in his "Life of Sulla" that he retired to a life spent in dissolute luxuries, and he "consorted with actresses, harpists, and theatrical people, drinking with them on couches all day long." From this distance, Sulla remained out of the day-to-day political activities in Rome, intervening only a few times when his policies were involved (e.g. the execution of Granius, shortly before his own death).


title: Sulla

text: Sulla's goal now was to write his memoirs, which he finished in 78 BC, just before his death. They are now largely lost, although fragments from them exist as quotations in later writers. Ancient accounts of Sulla's death indicate that he died from liver failure or a ruptured gastric ulcer (symptomized by a sudden hemorrhage from his mouth, followed by a fever from which he never recovered), possibly caused by chronic alcohol abuse. Accounts were also written that he had an infestation of worms, caused by the ulcers, which led to his death.


title: Sulla

text: His public funeral in Rome (in the Forum, in the presence of the whole city) was on a scale unmatched until that of Augustus in AD 14. Sulla's body was brought into the city on a golden bier, escorted by his veteran soldiers, and funeral orations were delivered by several eminent senators, with the main oration possibly delivered by Lucius Marcius Philippus or Hortensius. Sulla's body was cremated and his ashes placed in his tomb in the Campus Martius. An epitaph, which Sulla composed himself, was inscribed onto the tomb, reading, "No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full." Plutarch claims he had seen Sulla's personal motto carved on his tomb on the Campus Martius. The personal motto was "no better friend, no worse enemy."


title: Sulla

text: Sulla is generally seen as having set the precedent for Caesar's march on Rome and dictatorship. Cicero comments that Pompey once said, "If Sulla could, why can't I?" Sulla's example proved that it could be done, therefore inspiring others to attempt it; in this respect, he has been seen as another step in the Republic's fall. Further, Sulla failed to frame a settlement whereby the army (following the Marian reforms allowing nonland-owning soldiery) remained loyal to the Senate, rather than to generals such as himself. He attempted to mitigate this by passing laws to limit the actions of generals in their provinces, and although these laws remained in effect well into the imperial period, they did not prevent determined generals, such as Pompey and Julius Caesar, from using their armies for personal ambition against the Senate, a danger of which Sulla was intimately aware.


title: Sulla

text: While Sulla's laws such as those concerning qualification for admittance to the Senate, reform of the legal system and regulations of governorships remained on Rome's statutes long into the principate, much of his legislation was repealed less than a decade after his death. The veto power of the tribunes and their legislating authority were soon reinstated, ironically during the consulships of Pompey and Crassus.


title: Sulla

text: Sulla's descendants continued to be prominent in Roman politics into the imperial period. His son, Faustus Cornelius Sulla, issued "denarii" bearing the name of the dictator, as did a grandson, Quintus Pompeius Rufus. His descendants among the Cornelii Sullae would hold four consulships during the imperial period: Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 5 BC, Faustus Cornelius Sulla in AD 31, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix in AD 33, and Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix in 52 AD (he was the son of the consul of 31, and the husband of Claudia Antonia, daughter of the emperor Claudius). His execution in AD 62 on the orders of emperor Nero made him the last of the Cornelii Sullae.


title: Sulla

text: His rival, Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, described Sulla as having the cunning of a fox and the courage of a lion – but that it was his cunning that was by far the most dangerous. This mixture was later referred to by Machiavelli in his description of the ideal characteristics of a ruler.


title: Sulla

text: Sulla was red-blond and blue-eyed, and had a dead-white face covered with red marks. Plutarch notes that Sulla considered that "his golden head of hair gave him a singular appearance."


title: Sulla

text: He was said to have a duality between being charming, easily approachable, and able to joke and cavort with the most simple of people, while also assuming a stern demeanor when he was leading armies and as dictator. An example of the extent of his charming side was that his soldiers would sing a ditty about Sulla's one testicle, although without truth, to which he allowed as being "fond of a jest." This duality, or inconsistency, made him very unpredictable and "at the slightest pretext, he might have a man crucified, but, on another occasion, would make light of the most appalling crimes; or he might happily forgive the most unpardonable offenses, and then punish trivial, insignificant misdemeanors with death and confiscation of property."


title: Sulla

text: His excesses and penchant for debauchery could be attributed to the difficult circumstances of his youth, such as losing his father while he was still in his teens and retaining a doting stepmother, necessitating an independent streak from an early age. The circumstances of his relative poverty as a young man left him removed from his patrician brethren, enabling him to consort with revelers and experience the baser side of human nature. This "firsthand" understanding of human motivations and the ordinary Roman citizen may explain why he was able to succeed as a general despite lacking any significant military experience before his 30s.


title: Raekwon

text: Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of their debut album, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)", in 1993. Raekwon would subsequently pursue a solo career, releasing his first solo album, entitled "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", in 1995. The album received critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, as well as a staple of 1990s rap.


title: Raekwon

text: Whereas his next two albums, "Immobilarity" in 1999 and then "The Lex Diamond Story" in 2003, drew mixed reviews, his fourth album, long delayed, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II", released in September 2009, was likened to "The Godfather 2". Recognized for his "street epics" that are "straightforward yet linguistically rich," Raewkon is ranked among leading rappers. Meanwhile, he founded the record label ICE H20 Records.


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon was born Corey Woods in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where he was raised by his mother during his early childhood. His father was an addict. Raekwon only met his father once when he was six years old. On that occasion, his father brought him to meet his paternal grandmother (also for the first time) and then snuck out of the apartment. Raekwon moved with his mother to Staten Island after his mother was robbed. They were living in Park Hill by the time Raekwon was adolescent.


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon attributes the name Raekwon to the Five-Percent Nation, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, when he was a "young kid." He converted to Islam in 2009.


title: Raekwon

text: Growing up, he witnessed his mother being hit and abused by different men, an experience which he said "affected [him] a lot." As a young man, his mother kicked him out of their Park Hill home when Raekwon got into an argument with her boyfriend and his mother sided with the boyfriend. During this time, he spiraled into a pattern of hopelessness and violent behavior. He became addicted to cocaine and crack cocaine until he became aware of how the crack epidemic was affecting those around him, at which point "it was an automatic stop."


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon and rap partner Ghostface Killah attended junior high school together on Staten Island. Raekwon attended New Dorp High School, where he befriended rappers Remedy, Method Man and Inspectah Deck.


title: Raekwon

text: After being caught in a crossfire and accidentally shot four times, Raekwon began rapping in earnest. He later described being shot as an "important eye opener."


title: Raekwon

text: Woods first rapped as Sha Raider. In 1992, he joined the Wu-Tang Clan, an originally nine-member rap group drawing mainly from the Staten Island but also from the Brooklyn boroughs of New York City. He rapped as Raekwon The Chef, and also used the aliases Lex Diamonds, Shallah Raekwon, and Louis Rich.


title: Raekwon

text: As recording artists, the Wu-Tang Clan debuted by the November 1993 album, later was certified platinum, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)". Its single "C.R.E.A.M." reached #8 on the "Billboard" rap chart. "Wu-Tang Forever", a double album, followed in 1997, and was certified 4x multi-platinum. Amid other solo albums by its members, the group released "The W" in 2000, "Iron Flag" in 2001, and "8 Diagrams" in 2007.


title: Raekwon

text: In 1994, Raekwon signed a solo deal with Loud Records and released his debut solo single "Heaven & Hell" for the soundtrack to the film "Fresh". His first solo album, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", was released on August 1, 1995. Sales lagged his fellow Wu-Tang member Method Man's "Tical". Raekwon's album drew rave reviews, however, and it was promptly recognized as a classic.


title: Raekwon

text: The album's narrative struggle is set to imagery of criminal activity, largely cocaine trafficking, and emergence from it into the good life. Wu-Tang member and house producer RZA, who produced the entire album, called it "like a crime mafia story." Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah rapped in over half of the album's tracks, and the two wrote some lyrics in Barbados and Miami.


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon explained the lyrics' context as "trying to get out the hood. We wanted to buy the most expensive cars and jewelry and different things like that." The album, he perceived, "was only built for a certain lifestyle or people that understood that language. But eventually, it would break off to people looking at it as a movie and respecting it saying, 'Yo, wow! This is authentic. This is something that never been done before' " "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." debuted at No. 4 on the popular albums chart the Billboard 200, and at No. 2 on "Billboard"'s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It shipped about 130,000 copies in its first week, and was certified gold, at least 500,000 copies shipped, two months later, October 1995.


title: Raekwon

text: After "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...", Raekwon featured on R&B group Allure's debut or 1997 album. He also featured alongside rappers Nas, Jadakiss, and Big Pun in rapper Fat Joe's song "John Blaze." Raekwon's next album, "Immobilarity", lacking RZA's record production and Ghostface Killa features, was issued in 1999 to mixed reviews. "The Lex Diamond Story", released in 2003 under major label Universal Records, also drew mixed reviews, most critics unimpressed while user reviews widely varied. Raekwon cited a low promotional budget.


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon planned to release "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II" through record producer Dr. Dre's label Aftermath Entertainment in 2007. Raekwon credited the executive producer Busta Rhymes with restoring his ""Cuban Linx" mindset," while most tracks were produced by RZA, who likened collaboration with Dr. Dre to "yin and yang" styles.


title: Raekwon

text: Amid many delays, as for sample clearance, the "Only Built For Cuban Linx... Pt. II" track "Surgical Gloves" had been leaked already when the album was released by Raekwon's label, Ice H20, under major label EMI's distribution on September 8, 2009. The album features Wu-Tang members and affiliates as well as Slick Rick, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, Beanie Sigel, and others.


title: Raekwon

text: Also in September 2009, MTV ranked Raekwon tenth among "hottest" rappers. In December, HipHopDx's 2009 awards name "Only Built For Cuban Linx... Pt. II" album of the year, and described called it "the Hip Hop equivalent to "The Godfather 2", with Rae as revitalized as Marlon was". Raekwon won Emcee of the Year—the prior year, Nas won—while HipHopDX staff explained,


title: Raekwon

text: After the critical and relative commercial success of "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II", Raekwon collaborated with Method Man and Ghostface Killah for "Wu-Massacre", a short trio album designed to showcase unity within the group. Following this release, Raekwon resurrected talk of "Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang", a project announced in 2007, originally planned as a Wu-Tang album, minus RZA, due to his response to the previous group album "8 Diagrams". Raekwon forwarded his projects continuously through his growing label Icewater. He both worked on his own project while signing other underground artists.


title: Raekwon

text: Although not a Wu-Tang Clan project, "Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang" was released in March 2011, serving as Raekwon's fifth solo LP. As originally planned, RZA did not participate on the project, however, several other Wu-Tang members made appearances, as well as Black Thought, Nas and Rick Ross, among others. Raekwon revealed that he intends on eventually releasing a third installment to the "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." albums.


title: Raekwon

text: In 2012, Raekwon launched his own record label, Ice H20 Records. Raekwon announced on November 30, 2012, that he would soon release an EP entitled "Lost Jewlry". On December 20, he released "Never Can Say Goodbye", which did not end up on the EP. "Lost Jewlry" was released on January 15, 2013. It featured guest appearances from Maino and Freddie Gibbs, as well as production from Scram Jones, among others.


title: Raekwon

text: On January 1, 2013, Raekwon announced that the title of his next album would be "F.I.L.A.", an acronym for "Fly International Luxurious Art", and that it would be released during the second quarter of 2013. He would later specify a release month of September 2013. Following the release of the first single "All About You", Raekwon intimated that the album would be released in January 2014; it finally saw release on April 28, 2015. In November 2016, Raekwon announced that a new album was complete.


title: Raekwon

text: On March 24, 2017, Raekwon released a studio album, "The Wild", his first not to feature collaborations with fellow members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Critical reception was positive, with Pitchfork saying the album was stronger than "Fly", which it alleged had a "bloated roster". Consequence of Sound agreed, saying "The Wild" was largely understood as a return to form by Raekwon, with fewer guest appearances by other artists than usual and more focus on Raekwon's long-established style, albeit with the "maximalist modern production" he had employed on "Fly".


title: Raekwon

text: Raekwon was featured as a guest on the intro to the "WWCD" compilation by Griselda. On August 1, 2020, Elliot Wilson, of Tidal and "Rap Radar", announced Raekwon will be releasing "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 3" soon. In his most recent appearance, Raekwon provided guest vocals alongside Ghostface Killah and Busta Rhymes on "Science Class", a song off Griselda leader Westside Gunn's 2022 mixtape "10".


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: The game features new weapons, armor, rings and items called "Grains" which give players a temporary resistance to effects like poison, fire, and bleeding. As with the original, players are limited in how much they can carry before their character becomes encumbered, although some aspects of this encumbrance system have been adjusted. For example, in the original game, healing grasses have no weight, so players could potentially carry hundreds of them; in the remake, these healing items now have a weight associated with them so that the amount players can carry is significantly lessened, and more potent grasses weigh more than less effective ones. One new feature, called "Fractured World", is a mirror mode which reverses the layout of environments. The game also includes a photo mode, whereupon using it the game will pause, something not possible in the original. Filters from the photo mode can also be used during gameplay, including a "classic mode" filter intended to evoke the look of the original PlayStation 3 game. Although the "Souls" series is notorious for its difficulty, Bluepoint stated that the remake would not introduce different difficulty levels. The character creation feature has also been updated, with more options for customization.


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: In 2016, Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of the original "Demon's Souls", acknowledged the demand for developing a remake but said that because the intellectual property (IP) belonged to Sony, the inception of such a project would depend on their desire to do so. After Miyazaki and FromSoftware, the development studio of the original game, gave their approval, Bluepoint Games began development of a remake following completion of its 2018 remake of "Shadow of the Colossus". Japan Studio, who assisted with the development of the original game, also assisted Bluepoint Games for the remake. Japan Studio's Gavin Moore, best known for his work on "Puppeteer", served as the creative director for the project. A core goal was to remain true to the original while making adjustments in line with the more advanced hardware. Using the original art assets, music and level design as a blueprint, the team wanted to "finetune" the experience so it would appeal to players accustomed to modern games.


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: The score of the original game was recorded digitally and this presented difficulties in updating it for a modern remake. As such, the original score was redone in the style of Shunsuke Kida's original work, utilizing a full orchestra and choir. The voice acting was redone, with many of the original cast returning to both re-record their old lines and voice new dialogue. The motion capture animations were also redone. The game utilizes the haptic functionality of the DualSense controller giving the feeling of [metal striking metal] or to aid in the timing parries. The game ships with two visual modes: "cinematic mode" running at a native 4K resolution, at 30 frames per second and "performance mode" with a dynamic 4K at 60 frames per second. Despite earlier statements, "Demon's Souls" does not support ray tracing. Though a recurring request was the realization of a supposed sixth zone represented by a broken teleport stone in the original, the team decided to leave the game's number of worlds as is. At one point the team considered making an "Easy Mode" but ultimately decided it was not their place to add something that would fundamentally alter the game's balance.


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: The game was announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event on June 11, 2020. "Demon's Souls" released as a launch title for the PlayStation 5 in North America, Australia and New Zealand on November 12, 2020, and worldwide on November 19. Sony Interactive Entertainment published the remake worldwide, a change from the original game, which it had opted to only publish in Japan. A limited collector's edition was also released featuring a soundtrack album and other additional materials alongside a copy of the game.


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: "IGN" stated, ""Demon's Souls" is breathtakingly gorgeous and plays significantly better than it did on the PS3, not only thanks to the graphical power of the PlayStation 5, but because of smart quality-of-life changes and light touches that modernize some frustrating aspects of the original, without ever sacrificing the relentless challenge, puzzle-infused boss battles, and style that made it such a landmark game in the first place." While "GameSpot" wrote, "Quirks aside, Bluepoint's remake is an unmitigated success. It is a technical tour de force and a true showpiece for the PS5 and the power of Sony's next-generation console. But, more importantly, it's also a creative marvel coming from a studio that is clearly showing the world it has its own voice."


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: "Demon's Souls" inspiration on the later "Dark Souls" series was noted by "Game Informer", ""Demon’s Souls" is the predecessor to a slew of FromSoftware titles, and players can see tons of inspirations for environments and encounters that would reappear later in the "Dark Souls" series. Having not played the original in ages, this remake was like walking through a fascinating interactive museum in some respects, witnessing the precursors to Blighttown, the Pursuer, and many other series staples."


title: Demon's Souls (2020 video game)

text: During its first week of release, "Demon's Souls" debuted at the sixth position in the all-format charts in the UK, the fifth position in the Switzerland all-format charts, and the eleventh position in the Japan individual-format charts. 18,607 physical copies were sold that week in Japan. As of September 2021, the game had sold over 1.4 million copies.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Luke Paul Hoare Shaw (born 12 July 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Manchester United and the England national team.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Originally a member of Southampton's youth system, Shaw made his first-team debut for the club in January 2012. He signed his first professional contract in May that year before becoming a regular in the Southampton team over the next two seasons. In June 2014, Shaw was signed by Manchester United for £30 million, then a world record transfer fee for a teenager.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw made his senior international debut for England in March 2014 in a 1–0 friendly win against Denmark, and later that year was selected in the squad for the FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final, which was also the fastest ever scored in a UEFA European Championship final and fifth fastest in the tournament’s history.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw was born in Kingston upon Thames, London and raised in Molesey, Surrey. He attended Chandlers Field Primary School and Rydens Enterprise School, where he helped the Under-15 team reach the semi-finals of the English Schools' FA Cup. He began playing grassroots football with Hersham and Molesey Juniors. Shaw grew up as a Chelsea supporter and idolised full-back Ashley Cole. He played at Chelsea's development centre in Guildford, but was not offered an academy place. He has said that he wanted to eventually play for the club.


title: Luke Shaw

text: In 2002, Shaw joined the Southampton Academy at the age of seven, and became a regular in the under-18 team from the age of 15. His first association with the first team came in September 2011, when he was an unused substitute in a League Cup match against Preston North End. During the January 2012 transfer window, it was reported that Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City had shown interest in signing 16-year-old Shaw, with the then-Championship club reportedly valuing the defender at £4 million. Southampton quickly responded to such claims though, with then-manager Nigel Adkins assuring the media that "Luke Shaw is a big part of our future plans", and claiming that the club had "no intention … of letting any of [their] young players move on".


title: Luke Shaw

text: At the age of 16, Shaw made his debut for the Southampton first team on 28 January 2012 in the FA Cup, replacing winger Jason Puncheon for the final 13 minutes of the third round tie against Millwall, which finished 1–1. Following the club's promotion to the top flight in May 2012, Shaw was one of four youth players offered a professional contract for their return to the Premier League, along with Jack Stephens, Calum Chambers and James Ward-Prowse.


title: Luke Shaw

text: The defender made his first start for the Southampton first team in August 2012, playing the full 90 minutes of a 4–1 win over Stevenage in the League Cup, and on 10 November 2012, he became the youngest Southampton player to start a match in the Premier League when he was chosen to play at left-back against Swansea City, completing 74 minutes of the 1–1 draw.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw continued to make regular appearances throughout the season, and in manager Nigel Adkins's final match as Southampton manager on 16 January 2013, he set up the second goal in a 2–2 draw away to Chelsea, providing a cross from the left wing for Jason Puncheon to convert in the 75th minute. In an away match against Norwich City in March 2013, Shaw was involved in a collision with striker Grant Holt, which resulted in conceding a penalty in the first minute of injury time at the end of the match, although Artur Boruc saved the ensuing spot kick to ensure the match ended goalless. Shaw finished his first professional season with 28 appearances for Southampton, including 25 in the Premier League.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 12 July 2013, Shaw's 18th birthday, he signed a new five-year contract with Southampton. Shaw scored one goal during Southampton's pre-season preparations, scoring the last in an 8–0 win over Spanish team Palamós on 20 July 2013.


title: Luke Shaw

text: In the first match of the 2013–14 season, Shaw was directly involved in the goal that saw Southampton win against West Bromwich Albion when he was fouled in the penalty area by Youssouf Mulumbu in the 89th minute, with Rickie Lambert converting the resulting spot kick to see the Saints edge victory.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 18 April 2014, Shaw was named as one of the six players on the shortlist for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. He was also selected as left-back in the 2013–14 PFA Team of the Year.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 27 June 2014, Shaw signed a four-year contract (with an option to extend for a further year) with Manchester United for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of £30 million, becoming the most expensive teenager in world football. Chelsea were also interested in Shaw, but they backed away from a deal fearing the teenager's excessive pay demands would cause friction in their dressing room.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw made his debut in the first match of the club's pre-season tour of the United States, playing the first 45 minutes of a 7–0 win over the LA Galaxy. Before the start of the season, he suffered a hamstring injury that ruled him out for a month. Shaw was named as a substitute for Manchester United for the first time on 14 September 2014 in their fourth league match, and was unused as they recorded their first victory of the season against Queens Park Rangers. After again being an unused substitute in the subsequent defeat to Leicester City, Shaw made his competitive debut for United on 27 September 2014, playing the entirety of a 2–1 home victory against West Ham United.


title: Luke Shaw

text: In October 2014, Shaw was named on the 40-man shortlist for the 2014 Golden Boy award, a prize given to the player considered to be the best European-based player under the age of 21. On 8 February 2015, Shaw was sent off after receiving a second yellow card during a 1–1 draw with West Ham. On 18 April 2015, Shaw made his return to the starting line-up, replacing the injured Daley Blind. His first match since 9 March 2015 ended in a 1–0 defeat to league leaders Chelsea, but Shaw put up a solid performance and was praised by captain Wayne Rooney.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw started every league match in the early 2015–16 season until 15 September 2015, when, during the opening match of the Champions League group stage against PSV, Shaw was caught by Héctor Moreno with a sliding tackle and suffered a double leg fracture. Shaw was given oxygen and treated by nine medical staff during the nine-minute stoppage in Eindhoven before he was taken off on a stretcher and taken to hospital. Shaw was out of action for six months, before returning to training on 4 April 2016.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 7 August 2016, Shaw made his first competitive appearance since suffering his double leg fracture in September 2015, as Manchester United won 2–1 against Leicester City to lift the 2016 FA Community Shield.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 10 August 2018, Shaw scored his first senior goal in the league opener against Leicester City as Manchester United won 2–1. Shaw also won the season's first player of the month award in August and again in September. He signed a new five-year contract with United on 18 October 2018. On 2 April, Shaw was announced as United's player of the month for March – achieving three in total during the season. At the end of the season, Shaw was voted Manchester United Players' Player of the Year and Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 2 February 2021, Shaw made two assists before he was substituted at half-time in Manchester United's Premier League record-equalling 9–0 home win against Southampton. On 7 March, Shaw scored his first league goal since August 2018 in the derby win against Manchester City.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw's first experience of international football came in 2011, when he made six appearances for the England under-16 team. He made his debut against Slovenia in February, before competing in the Montaigu Tournament in April and scoring his first international goal against Uruguay at the tournament. He later made his debut for the under-17 team in August against Italy, and played in eight matches in a seven-month stint with the national team.


title: Luke Shaw

text: In January 2013, Shaw was set to be called up for the first time to the England under-21 team for the following month's friendly against Sweden, with then-manager Stuart Pearce calling the Southampton defender "an outstanding talent". However, due to an injury picked up in training, he was later forced to pull out of the match. The uncapped defender was subsequently called up for matches against Romania on 21 March, Austria on 25 March, and Scotland on 13 August, as well as the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, all of which he had to pull out of for the same reason. He eventually made his England under-21 debut on 5 September when the team faced Moldova in a 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match, and he also played the full 90 minutes of England's second qualification match against Finland on 9 September.


title: Luke Shaw

text: On 27 February 2014, Shaw was called up to the England senior team for the first time, for their friendly with Denmark. He made his debut in the match, replacing Ashley Cole at half-time. England won the match 1–0. On 12 May 2014, Shaw was named in Roy Hodgson's 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He was included at the expense of the experienced Cole, who retired from internationals as a result. He was England's second-choice left-back behind Leighton Baines, and made his tournament debut in the last group match, a 0–0 draw with Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte. He also holds the accolade of being the youngest player to appear at the 2014 tournament.


title: Luke Shaw

text: Shaw was included in the England squad for UEFA Euro 2020. On 11 July 2021, Shaw scored the fastest ever goal in a European Championship final, against Italy in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final, with just two minutes on the clock. However, his early goal was not enough to give England their first major title in 55 years, as Italy emerged victorious in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw in extra time.


title: Luke Shaw

text: As a left-back with a tendency to play attacking football, Shaw has been compared to former Southampton youth product Gareth Bale, with particular focus being placed on his speed, decision-making and defending skills. Former England international and FA Director of Football Development Trevor Brooking has described Shaw as "technically very gifted".


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the first time. The competition was originally scheduled for August 6–15, 2021, but it was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating at the championships. In addition, the stringent vaccination requirements for people entering the United States caused visa delays for participants and officials, with some ultimately being unable to enter the country. These issues caused the final total to stand at 179 nations (180 including the Athlete Refugee Team), the lowest number since Tokyo 1991.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: A record 29 countries won at least one gold medal during the championships. Peru, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria won their first-ever gold medals. India and Burkina Faso had their best medal performances, winning a silver, and the Philippines won a bronze. A new award was the team event trophy, which was won by the United States, which also won the most gold medals, with 13, and the most medals overall, with 33 (a record for a single edition). The event was the most-watched edition ever in US television history. More than 146,000 tickets were sold, with several evening sessions sold out.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: There were four athletes who won two gold medals: Kimberly García in the Women's 20km Race Walk and the Women's 35km Race Walk; Michael Norman in the Men's 400m and the Men's 4x400m Relay; Sydney McLaughlin in the Women's 400m Hurdles and the Women's 4x400m Relay; and Abby Steiner in the Women's 4x100m Relay and Women's 4x400m Relay. In addition to the athletes who won two gold medals, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson both of Jamaica, earned 3 medals, 1 gold and 2 silvers in the Women's 100m (Fraser-Pryce gold; Jackson silver), the Women's 200 metres (Jackson gold; Fraser-Pryce silver) and the Women's 4x100m Relay (silver for both).


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: Three world records and 13 championship records were broken. The world records were set by Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 50.68 seconds in the Women's 400m Hurdles final; Tobi Amusan, who won the Women's 100m Hurdles semi-final in 12.12 seconds; and Armand Duplantis, who reached 6.21 meters in the Men's Pole Vault final.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The selection of the host city was announced on April 16, 2015 in Beijing, China. Eugene was selected without a traditional bidding process, though Eugene did put in a bid for the 2019 World Championships, losing out to Doha.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: "Runner's World" magazine reported that Eugene's selection by World Athletics, then known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, was an "unusual move". They report the Association "bypassed the usual bidding process," and that the choice of Eugene would make the 2022 event "the first held in the United States." The event was the second held in North America, after Edmonton in 2001.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: "The Guardian" reported that the lack of bidding triggered concern in European cities that had bid to host the event.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: They quoted Lamine Diack, IAAF president, who justified the lack of bidding with the claim the selection of Eugene to host the event, "enables us to take advantage of a unique opportunity to host a financially successful tournament that may never arise again."


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: Despite this, the 2022 event was not the first to lack the usual bidding process: as the 2007 World Championships were awarded to Osaka without bidding after the withdrawal of the two other candidate cities.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The championships were held at the University of Oregon Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, which has 12,650 permanent seats and a temporary capacity of 25,000. The venue had previously hosted the 2020 USA Olympic Track and Field Trials, the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track Field Championships and the 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The race walking was held on a 1-km loop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near Autzen Stadium, and the marathon race started from the same stadium, towards Pre's Trail and going to Springfield, Oregon and back.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: World Athletics announced that athletes would qualify by their World Athletics Rankings position, wild card (reigning world champion or 2021 Diamond League winner) or by achieving the entry standard.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: Countries who had no male and/or no female athletes who had achieved the Entry Standard or considered as having achieved the entry standard (see above) or a qualified relay team, could enter one unqualified male athlete OR one unqualified female athlete in one event of the championships (except the road events and field events, combined events, 10,000 m and 3000 m steeplechase).


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: At the end of the qualification period, the 2021 World Athletics Rankings were published. They were used to invite additional athletes to the World Championships where the target number of athletes had not been achieved for that event through other methods of qualification.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The maximum of three athletes per country in individual events was not affected by this rule. Member federations retained the right to confirm or reject athlete selections through this method.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: Where the highest ranked athletes were from a country that already had three entrants for the event, or where member federations had rejected an entrant, the next highest ranked athlete became eligible for entry via the world rankings.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The following regulations shall applied for Automatic Qualification to the 2022 World Athletics Championships (not applicable for relays and marathon).


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 1. The Area Champion (in each individual event to be contested at the World Championships) automatically qualifies for the World Championships, irrespective of whether his performance has reached the Entry Standard. This does not apply to 10,000 m, 3000 m Steeplechase, Combined Events, Field Events and Road Events where the entry of the athlete will be subject to the approval of the Technical Delegates


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 3. The Member Federation of the Area Champion will have the ultimate authority to enter the athlete or not, based on its own domestic standard or qualification system


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 4. If the Member Federation of the Area Champion enters the athlete, he will be considered as having achieved the Entry Standard


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 5. If the Area Champion, for whatever reason, is not entered, his quota will not be delegated to the second placed athlete and the normal entry rules and conditions apply


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 6. For those Area Championships that do not have certain events, the Area Associations can organize alternate Area-specific event Championships with conditions conforming to Area Championships Regulations. World Athletics shall be notified of such alternative Championships at least one month in advance of the events being held


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: 1,972 athletes from 192 member federations were scheduled to compete at the championships, but owing to vaccination requirements and resulting visa issues the final total was reduced to 179 nations (plus the Athlete Refugee Team) and more than 1,700 athletes, the lowest number since 1991 for the former and 2005 for the latter.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: A record 29 countries won at least one gold medal during the championships. Peru, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria won their first-ever gold medals, while India and Burkina Faso had their best medal performances, with silver, and the Philippines with bronze.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: There was a world record programme where if a world record was broken the athlete who broke it would get $100,000.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: A total amount of $8,498,000 was also offered by World Athletics to finalists at Oregon 2022, of which $2 million has been ringfenced from the fines paid by the Russian Athletics Federation (for doping rules offenses).


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The event was streamed live in some territories on the World Athletics YouTube and Facebook channels.


title: 2022 World Athletics Championships

text: The event was the most watched World Athletics Championships in US television history, reaching an excess of 13.7 million viewers.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), also known as gavial or fish-eating crocodile, is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae and among the longest of all living crocodilians. Mature females are long, and males . Adult males have a distinct boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known as a "ghara", hence the name "gharial". The gharial is well adapted to catching fish because of its long, narrow snout and 110 sharp, interlocking teeth.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial probably evolved in the northern Indian subcontinent. Fossil gharial remains were excavated in Pliocene deposits in the Sivalik Hills and the Narmada River valley. It currently inhabits rivers in the plains of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It is the most thoroughly aquatic crocodilian, and leaves the water only for basking and building nests on moist sandbanks. Adults mate at the end of the cold season. Females congregate in spring to dig nests, in which they lay 20–95 eggs. They guard the nests and the young, which hatch before the onset of the monsoon. The hatchlings stay and forage in shallow water during their first year, but move to sites with deeper water as they grow.


title: Gharial

text: The wild gharial population has declined drastically since the 1930s and is limited to only 2% of its historical range today. Conservation programmes initiated in India and Nepal focused on reintroducing captive-bred gharials since the early 1980s. Loss of habitat because of sand mining and conversion to agriculture, depletion of fish resources and detrimental fishing methods continue to threaten the population. It has been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2007.


title: Gharial

text: The oldest known depictions of the gharial are about 4,000 years old and were found in the Indus Valley. Hindus regard it as the vehicle of the river deity Gaṅgā. Local people living near rivers attributed mystical and healing powers to the gharial, and used some of its body parts as ingredients of indigenous medicine.


title: Gharial

text: The name 'gharial' is derived from the Hindi word 'ghara' for an earthen pot, in reference to the nasal protuberance on the adult male's snout. It is also called 'gavial'. The name 'fish-eating crocodile' is a translation of its Bengali name 'mecho kumhir', with 'mecho' being derived from 'māch' meaning fish and 'kumhir' meaning crocodile. The name 'Indian gharial' has occasionally been used for gharial populations in India.


title: Gharial

text: "Lacerta gangetica" was the scientific name proposed by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. Gmelin followed Carl Linnaeus who proposed "Lacerta" in 1758 to include other crocodiles and various lizards known at the time.


title: Gharial

text: The generic name "Gavialis" was proposed by Nicolaus Michael Oppel in 1811 for crocodiles with a cylindrical-shaped back. He placed this genus in the family Crocodilini.


title: Gharial

text: "Rhamphostoma" was proposed by Johann Georg Wagler in 1830 who considered this genus to contain two species, "Crocodilus gangeticus" and "C. tenuirostris".


title: Gharial

text: The family name Gavialidae was proposed by Arthur Adams in 1854 with "Gavialis" as the only genus in this family.


title: Gharial

text: "Gavialis gangetica" was the scientific name used by Albert Günther in 1864 who considered "L. gangetica", "C. longirostris" and "C. tenuirostris" as synonyms and "Gavialis" a monotypic taxon. John Edward Gray reviewed zoological specimens in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. He also considered the gharial monotypic in 1869. He placed it in the family Gavialidae together with the false gharial ("Tomistoma schlegelii") because both have long, slender jaws and similar dentition.


title: Gharial

text: "Gharialis hysudricus" proposed by Richard Lydekker in 1886 was based on a fossil skull from the Sivalik Hills that was larger than gharial fossil skulls known at the time. This name is considered to be a junior synonym of "Gavialis gangeticus".


title: Gharial

text: The evolution of the gharial and its relationship with and divergence from other crocodilians have been a subject of controversy. Some authors assumed that the gharial evolved earlier than the other crocodilians because of its distinct skull shape and dentition, indicating a more advanced level of specialization. Others suggested that it evolved much later than other crocodilians because of its low levels of blood protein divergence. As it shares this trait with the false gharial, it was suggested that they form a sister group. In contrast, it was suggested that the gharial and all the other crocodilians form a sister group as the structure of its tail muscles is unique. Sequencing of a ribosomal segment of mitochondrial DNAs of gharial and false gharial revealed that they share 22 unique nucleotides, a similarity of 94%, supporting the view that they are sister taxa. Analyses of nuclear gene sequences of both species also support the view that they are sister taxa. Molecular genetics and tip dating studies indicates a genetic divergence between the gharial and false gharial in the Eocene about .


title: Gharial

text: The genus "Gavialis" probably originated in the region of India and Pakistan in the Early Miocene. Fossil gharial remains excavated in the Sivalik Hills of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are dated to between the Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene. Fossil gharial remains were also found at two sites in the Ayeyarwady River valley in central Myanmar, which are dated to the Late Pleistocene.


title: Gharial

text: During the Quaternary, "Gavialis" dispersed as far as Java via the Siva–Malayan route, which did not require saltwater crossings. Fossil remains of "Gavialis bengawanicus" found on Java were dated to the Early Pleistocene.


title: Gharial

text: "G. bengawanicus" fossils found in Thailand's Nakhon Ratchasima Province support the hypothesis of gharial dispersal through riverine systems. It represents the only valid extinct "Gavialis" species.


title: Gharial

text: The below cladogram of the major extant crocodile groups is based on the latest molecular studies, and shows the gharial's close relationship to the false gharial, and how the gavialids and crocodiles are more closely related than the alligatoroids:


title: Gharial

text: Here is a more detailed cladogram that shows the gharial's proposed placement within Gavialidae, including extinct members:


title: Gharial

text: The gharial is olive-coloured, with adults being darker than young, which have dark brown cross bands and speckles. Its back turns almost black at 20 years of age, but its belly is yellowish-white. It has four transverse rows of two scales on the neck, which continue along the back. Scutes on the head, neck and back form a single continuous plate composed of 21 to 22 transverse series, and four longitudinal series. Scutes on the back are bony, but softer and feebly keeled on the sides. The outer edges of the forearms, legs, and feet have crests jutting out; fingers and toes are partly webbed.


title: Gharial

text: Its snout is very long and narrow, widened at the end, and with 27 to 29 upper teeth and 25 or 26 lower teeth on each side. The front teeth are the largest. The first, second, and third lower jaw teeth fit into spaces in the upper jaw. The extremely long mandibular symphysis extends to the 23rd or 24th tooth. The snout of adult gharials is 3.5 times longer than the width of the skull's base. Because of this long snout the gharial is especially adapted to catching and eating fish. The nasal bones are rather short and widely spaced from the premaxillae. The jugal bone is raised. It becomes proportionally thicker with age.


title: Gharial

text: Male gharials develop a hollow bulbous nasal protuberance at the tip of the snout upon reaching sexual maturity. This protuberance resembles an earthen pot known locally as "ghara". The male's ghara starts growing over the nostrils at an age of 11.5 years and measures about at an age of 15.5 years. It enables the males to emit a hissing sound that can be heard away.


title: Gharial

text: Female gharials reach sexual maturity at a body length of and grow up to . Males mature at a body length of at least and grow up to a length of . Adult males weigh about on average. It is among the largest of the living crocodilians, with the heaviest recorded male weighing .


title: Gharial

text: A long gharial was killed in the Ghaghara River in Faizabad in August 1920. Male gharials with an alleged length of were sighted around the turn of the 20th century in Indian rivers.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial once thrived in all the major river systems of the northern Indian subcontinent, from the Indus River in Pakistan, the Ganges in India, the Brahmaputra River in northeastern India and Bangladesh to the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar.


title: Gharial

text: In the early 20th century, it was considered common in the Indus River and its Punjabi tributaries. By the early 1980s, it was almost extinct in the Indus. During surveys in 2008 and 2009, no gharial was sighted in the river.


title: Gharial

text: It was also present in India's Godavari River but was hunted to extinction between the late 1940s and the 1960s.


title: Gharial

text: In the 1940s, it was numerous in the Barak River in Assam, which held big fish at the time including golden mahseer ("Tor putitora").


title: Gharial

text: A few individuals were also sighted in tributaries of the Barak River in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur up to 1988, but surveys were not carried out.


title: Gharial

text: In 1927, a gharial was shot in the Shweli River in Myanmar, a tributary of the Ayeyawady River. This is the only authenticated record in the country attesting the survival of gharials into the 20th century. Whether gharials still live in the Shweli River today is possible but remained unclear in 2012.


title: Gharial

text: By 1976, its global range had decreased to only 2% of its historical range, and fewer than 200 gharials were estimated to survive. It is locally extinct in Pakistan, Bhutan and Myanmar.


title: Gharial

text: Since the early 1980s, the population has been reinforced with captive-bred gharials that were released into wild habitats in India and Nepal. In 2017, the global population was estimated to comprise at maximum 900 individuals, including about 600 mature adults in six major subpopulations along of river courses and another 50 mature adults in eight minor subpopulations along of river courses.


title: Gharial

text: In Nepal, small populations are present and slowly recovering in tributaries of the Ganges, such as the Karnali–Babai River system in Bardia National Park and the Narayani–Rapti river system in Chitwan National Park.


title: Gharial

text: In spring 2017, the Babai River was surveyed using an unmanned aerial vehicle, which detected 33 gharials on a stretch of .


title: Gharial

text: Between 1979 and 1993, less than 20 individuals were sighted in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River between Kaziranga National Park and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. This population had declined due to commercial fishing, poaching, encroachment by local people in gharial breeding grounds and siltation of river beds following deforestation. In 1998, it was not considered to be viable. About 30 gharials were observed in small lakes and tributaries of the Brahmaputra River in Assam between 2004 and 2007.


title: Gharial

text: In Bangladesh, gharials were recorded in Padma, Jamuna, Mahananda and Brahmaputra rivers between 2000 and 2015.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial is the most thoroughly aquatic crocodilian. It leaves the water only for basking on riverbanks. Being cold-blooded, it seeks to cool down during hot times and to warm up when ambient temperature is cool. Gharials bask daily in the cold season, foremost in the mornings, and prefer sandy and moist beaches. They change their basking pattern with increasing daily temperatures; they start basking earlier in the mornings, move back into the river when it is hot, and return to the beach later in the afternoon. Groups comprising an adult male, several females and subadults have been observed to bask together. Adult males dominate groups and tolerate immature males.


title: Gharial

text: Large groups of young, subadult and adult gharials form in December and January to bask. Adult males and females associate by mid February.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial shares riverine habitat with the mugger crocodile ("Crocodylus palustris") in parts of its range. They use the same nesting grounds, but differ in the selection of basking sites.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial basks close to water on shallow, sandy beaches and lays eggs only in sandy soil near water. The mugger crocodile also basks on sandy beaches, but unlike the gharial climbs steep embankments and rocks, and moves farther away from beaches for both basking and nest building. It also preys on fish, but has a broader prey base than the gharial including snakes, turtles, birds, mammals and dead animals.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial is well adapted to hunting fish underwater because of its sharp interlocking teeth and long narrow snout, which meets little resistance in the water. It does not chew its prey, but swallows it whole. Juvenile gharials were observed to jerk their heads back to manoeuvre fish into their gullets, sliding them in head first. Young gharials feed on insects, tadpoles, small fish and frogs. Adults also feed on small crustaceans. Remains of Indian softshell turtle ("Nilssonia gangetica") were also found in gharial stomachs. Gharials tear apart large fish and pick up and swallow stones as gastroliths, probably to aid digestion or regulate buoyancy. Some gharial stomachs also contained jewellery.


title: Gharial

text: Females mature at a body length of around . Captive females breed at a body length of . Male gharials mature at 15–18 years of age, when they reach a body length of around and once the ghara is developed. The ghara is apparently used to indicate sexual maturity, as a sound resonator when bubbling underwater or for other sexual behaviours.


title: Gharial

text: Courting and mating starts by mid-February at the end of the cold season. In the dry season, reproductive females observed in the Chambal River routinely move and join female breeding groups to dig nests together. They select sites in riverside sand or silt banks located between away from the water and above a water level of . These nests are deep with a diameter of about . Between end of March and early April, they lay 20–95 eggs. A record clutch with 97 eggs was found in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.


title: Gharial

text: The eggs are the largest of all crocodilians and weigh an average of . Each egg is long and wide. After 71 to 93 days of incubation, young gharials hatch in July just before the onset of the monsoon. Their sex is most likely determined by temperature, like in most reptiles. Females dig up the hatchlings in response to hatching chirps, but do not assist them to reach the water. They stay at nesting sites until monsoon floods arrive and return after monsoon.


title: Gharial

text: Captive male gharials observed in the 1980s did not participate in guarding nests. A captive male gharial was observed to show an interest in hatchlings and was allowed by the female to carry hatchlings on his back.


title: Gharial

text: In the Chambal River, females were observed to stay close to nest sites and guard young gharials until the shoreline was flooded. VHF radio tracking of a junior male gharial revealed that he was the dominant male guarding nests at a communal nesting site for two years.


title: Gharial

text: Hatchlings range from in body length with a weight of . In two years, they grow to a length of and of in three years.


title: Gharial

text: Gharials hatched and raised in Nepal's Gharial Conservation and Breeding Center measured and weighed at the age of 45 months in April 2013. They consumed up to of fish per individual and month. By the age of 75 months, they had gained in weight and grown reaching body lengths of .


title: Gharial

text: Young gharials in their first year of age hide and forage in shallow water preferably in sites that are surrounded by debris of fallen trees. A study along a stretch of the Chambal River revealed that juvenile gharials up to a body length of prefer basking sites where the mid river water is deep. As their body size increases, they move to sites with deeper water. Subadult and adult gharials above a body length of prefer sites where the water is deeper than .


title: Gharial

text: Young gharials move forward by pushing the diagonally opposite legs synchronously. At a young age, they can also gallop but do so only in emergency situations. When they reach a length of about and a weight of about at the age of 8–9 months, they change to an adult pattern of locomotion of pushing forward with hind and front legs simultaneously. Adults do not have the ability to walk on land in the semi-upright stance as other crocodilians. When basking on the beach, they often turn round so as to face the water.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial population is estimated to have declined from 5,000–10,000 individuals in 1946 to fewer than 250 individuals in 2006, a decline of 96–98% within three generations. Gharials were killed by fishermen, hunted for skins, trophies and indigenous medicine, and their eggs collected for consumption. The remaining individuals form several fragmented subpopulations. Hunting is no longer considered a significant threat. However, the wild population declined from an estimated 436 adult gharials in 1997 to fewer than 250 mature individuals in 2006. One reason for this decline is the increased use of gill nets for fishing in gharial habitat. The other major reason is the loss of riverine habitat as dams, barrages, irrigation canals and artificial embankments were built; siltation and sand-mining changed river courses; and land near rivers is used for agriculture and grazing by livestock.


title: Gharial

text: When 111 dead gharials were found in the Chambal River between December 2007 and March 2008, it was initially suspected that they had died either because of toxicants or the illegal use of fish nets, in which they became entrapped in and subsequently drowned. Later post mortem pathological testing of tissue samples revealed high levels of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which together with stomach ulcers and protozoan parasites reported in most necropsies were thought to have caused their deaths. Water pumps used for pumping water out of the Chambal River have proven to negatively impact the gharial population.


title: Gharial

text: Threats in unprotected stretches of the Karnali River include quarrying for boulders, sand mining and unlicensed fishing.


title: Gharial

text: The gharial is listed on CITES Appendix I. In India, it is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. In Nepal, it is fully protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973.


title: Gharial

text: Since the late 1970s, the gharial conservation approach was focused on reintroduction. Rivers in protected areas in India and Nepal used to be restocked with captive bred juvenile gharials. Gharial eggs were incubated, hatched and juvenile gharials raised for two to three years and released when about one metre in length.


title: Gharial

text: In 1975, the Indian Crocodile Conservation Project was set up under the auspices of the Government of India, initially in Odisha's Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary. It was implemented with financial aid of the United Nations Development Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The country's first gharial breeding center was built in Nandankanan Zoological Park. A male gharial was flown in from Frankfurt Zoological Garden to become one of the founding animals of the breeding program. In subsequent years, several protected areas were established. In 1976, two breeding centres were established in Uttar Pradesh, one in Kukrail Reserve Forest and one in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, with facilities to hatch and raise up to 800 gharials each year for release in rivers.


title: Gharial

text: Between 1975 and 1982, sixteen crocodile rehabilitation centers and five crocodile sanctuaries were established in the country. Gharial eggs were initially purchased from Nepal. In 1991, the Ministry of Environment and Forests withdrew funds for the captive-breeding and egg-collection programs, arguing that the project had served its purpose. In 1997–1998, over 1,200 gharials and over 75 nests were located in the National Chambal Sanctuary, but no surveys were carried out between 1999 and 2003. Gharial eggs collected from wild and captive-breeding nests amounted to 12,000 until 2004. Eggs were incubated, and hatchlings were reared to a length of about one meter or more.


title: Gharial

text: More than 5,000 gharials were released into Indian rivers between the early 1980s and 2006. Despite the release of 142 gharials between 1982 and 2007 into the Ken River, only one adult female gharial was observed in the river in spring 2013, indicating that most of the released gharials had not reproduced.


title: Gharial

text: In Nepal, wild eggs collected along rivers have been incubated in the Gharial Conservation and Breeding Center in Chitwan National Park since 1978. The first batch of 50 gharials was released in spring 1981 into the Narayani River. In subsequent years, gharials were also released into five other rivers in the country. In 2016, this center was overcrowded with more than 600 gharials aged between 5 and 12 years, and many were too old to be released.


title: Gharial

text: Reintroducing gharials helped to maintain this population, but the survival rate of released gharials was rather low. Of 36 marked gharials released in the spring seasons of 2002 and 2003 into the Rapti–Narayani rivers, only 14 were found alive in spring 2004. This reintroduction programme has been criticised in 2017 as not being comprehensive and coordinated, as often too old and unsexed gharials were released at disturbed localities during unfavourable cold months and without assessing the efficiency of these releases.


title: Gharial

text: It has been suggested to instead leave wild nests in place, increase protection of nesting and basking sites and monitor the movement of gharials.


title: Gharial

text: Releasing captive-reared gharials did not contribute significantly to re-establishing viable populations.


title: Gharial

text: Monitoring of released gharials revealed that the reintroduction programmes did not address multiple factors affecting their survival. These factors include disturbances from diversions of river courses, sand mining, cultivation of riversides, fishing by local people and mortality related to fishing methods like the use of gill nets and dynamite.


title: Gharial

text: In 2017, members of the Crocodile Specialist Group therefore recommended to foster engagement of local communities in gharial conservation programs.


title: Gharial

text: The riverbanks of Girwa river were cleared from woody vegetation on sand banks and mid-river islands in 2019, and sand was added in 2020 to create an artificial sand bank of about . This intervention helped to stabilise and optimise the soil temperature at this site. In 2020, the number of gharial nests on this river stretch increased to 36 from 25 in 2018, and the number of unhatched eggs and dead hatchlings decreased significantly.


title: Gharial

text: As of 1999, gharials were also kept in the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Mysore Zoo, Jaipur Zoo and Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre in India.


title: Gharial

text: In Europe, gharials are kept in Prague Zoo and Protivin Crocodile Zoo in the Czech Republic, and the Berlin Zoo in Germany.


title: Gharial

text: La Ferme aux Crocodiles, a crocodile farm in France, received six juveniles in 2000 from the Gharial Breeding Centre in Nepal.


title: Gharial

text: In the United States, gharials are kept in Busch Gardens Tampa, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Honolulu Zoo, San Diego Zoo, National Zoological Park, San Antonio Zoo and Aquarium and St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. Bronx Zoo and Los Angeles Zoo received gharials in 2017.


title: Gharial

text: The earliest known depictions of the gharial date to the Indus Valley civilisation. Seals and tablets show gharials with fish in their mouths and surrounded by fish. A tablet shows a deity flanked by a gharial and a fish. These pieces are about 4,000 years old and were found at Mohenjo-daro and Amri, Sindh.


title: Gharial

text: A gharial is depicted on one of the rock carvings on a pillar of the Sanchi Stupa, which dates to the 3rd century BC.


title: Gharial

text: In Hindu mythology, the gharial is the vehicle of the river deity Gaṅgā and of the wind and sea deity Varuna.


title: Gharial

text: In the 16th-century book "Baburnama", Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur accounted of a gharial sighting in the Ghaghara River between Ghazipur and Benares in 1526.


title: Gharial

text: In 1915, a British officer observed the traditional method of Kehal fishermen hunting gharials along the Indus. They staked nets about below the waterline close by a sandbank and waited hidden for gharials to come out of the river for basking. After some time, they left their hiding places, prompting the gharials to dart off to the river and get entangled in the nets.


title: Gharial

text: Local people in Nepal attributed various mystical powers to the ghara of male gharials and killed them to collect their snouts. Tharu people believed that the ghara would repel insects and pests when burnt in a field, and that gharial eggs would be an effective cough medicine and aphrodisiac. Jewellery found in gharial stomachs may have been the reason for the belief of local people that they would eat humans.


title: Gharial

text: Local names for the gharial include 'Lamthore gohi' and 'Chimpta gohi' in Nepali, whereby gohi means crocodile; 'Gharial' in Hindi; 'Susar' in Marathi; 'Nakar' and 'Bahsoolia nakar' in Bihari; 'Thantia kumhira' in Odia, with 'thantia' being derived from the Sanskrit word 'tuṇḍa' meaning beak, snout, elephant's trunk; the male is called 'Ghadiala' and the female 'Thantiana' in Odia.


title: Distillation

text: Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating of solid materials to produce gaseous products (which may condense into liquids or solids); this may involve chemical changes such as destructive distillation or cracking. Distillation may result in essentially complete separation (resulting in nearly pure components), or it may be a partial separation that increases the concentration of selected components; in either case, the process exploits differences in the relative volatility of the mixture's components. In industrial applications, distillation is a unit operation of practically universal importance, but is a physical separation process, not a chemical reaction. An installation used for distillation, especially of distilled beverages, is a distillery. Distillation includes the following applications:


title: Distillation

text: Early evidence of distillation was found on Akkadian tablets dated c. 1200 BCE describing perfumery operations. The tablets provided textual evidence that an early primitive form of distillation was known to the Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia. Early evidence of distillation was also found related to alchemists working in Alexandria in Roman Egypt in the 1st century CE.


title: Distillation

text: Distillation was practiced in the ancient Indian subcontinent, which is evident from baked clay retorts and receivers found at Taxila, Shaikhan Dheri, Charsadda in Pakistan and Rang Mahal in India dating to the early centuries of the Common Era. Allchin notes these terracotta distill tubes were "made to imitate bamboo". These "Gandhara stills" were only capable of producing very weak liquor, as there was no efficient means of collecting the vapors at low heat. Distilled water has been in use since at least c. 200 CE, when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process. Work on distilling other liquids continued in early Byzantine Egypt under Zosimus of Panopolis in the 3rd century.


title: Distillation

text: Distillation in China may have begun during the Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd centuries CE), but the distillation of beverages began in the Jin (12th–13th centuries) and Southern Song (10th–13th centuries) dynasties, according to archaeological evidence.


title: Distillation

text: Medieval Muslim chemists such as Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Latin: Geber, ninth century) and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Latin: Rhazes, ) experimented extensively with the distillation of various substances.


title: Distillation

text: The distillation of wine is attested in Arabic works attributed to al-Kindī (c. 801–873 CE) and to al-Fārābī (c. 872–950), and in the 28th book of al-Zahrāwī's (Latin: Abulcasis, 936–1013) "Kitāb al-Taṣrīf" (later translated into Latin as "Liber servatoris"). In the twelfth century, recipes for the production of "aqua ardens" ("burning water", i.e., ethanol) by distilling wine with salt started to appear in a number of Latin works, and by the end of the thirteenth century it had become a widely known substance among Western European chemists. The works of Taddeo Alderotti (1223–1296) describe a method for concentrating alcohol involving repeated distillation through a water-cooled still, by which an alcohol purity of 90% could be obtained.


title: Distillation

text: The fractional distillation of organic substances plays an important role in the works attributed to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, such as in the ('The Book of Seventy'), translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona (c. 1114–1187) under the title . The Jabirian experiments with fractional distillation of animal and vegetable substances, and to a lesser degree also of mineral substances, is the main topic of the , an originally Arabic work falsely attributed to Avicenna that was translated into Latin and would go on to form the most important alchemical source for Roger Bacon ().


title: Distillation

text: A still was found in an archaeological site in Qinglong, Hebei province, in China, dating back to the 12th century. Distilled beverages were common during the Yuan dynasty (13th–14th centuries).


title: Distillation

text: In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published "Liber de arte destillandi" ("The Book of the Art of Distillation"), the first book solely dedicated to the subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much expanded version. In 1651, John French published "The Art of Distillation", the first major English compendium on the practice, but it has been claimed that much of it derives from Braunschweig's work. This includes diagrams with people in them showing the industrial rather than bench scale of the operation.


title: Distillation

text: As alchemy evolved into the science of chemistry, vessels called retorts became used for distillations. Both alembics and retorts are forms of glassware with long necks pointing to the side at a downward angle to act as air-cooled condensers to condense the distillate and let it drip downward for collection. Later, copper alembics were invented. Riveted joints were often kept tight by using various mixtures, for instance a dough made of rye flour. These alembics often featured a cooling system around the beak, using cold water, for instance, which made the condensation of alcohol more efficient. These were called pot stills. Today, the retorts and pot stills have been largely supplanted by more efficient distillation methods in most industrial processes. However, the pot still is still widely used for the elaboration of some fine alcohols, such as cognac, Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, tequila, rum, cachaça, and some vodkas. Pot stills made of various materials (wood, clay, stainless steel) are also used by bootleggers in various countries. Small pot stills are also sold for use in the domestic production of flower water or essential oils.


title: Distillation

text: Early forms of distillation involved batch processes using one vaporization and one condensation. Purity was improved by further distillation of the condensate. Greater volumes were processed by simply repeating the distillation. Chemists reportedly carried out as many as 500 to 600 distillations in order to obtain a pure compound.


title: Distillation

text: In the early 19th century, the basics of modern techniques, including pre-heating and reflux, were developed. In 1822, Anthony Perrier developed one of the first continuous stills, and then, in 1826, Robert Stein improved that design to make his patent still. In 1830, Aeneas Coffey got a patent for improving the design even further. Coffey's continuous still may be regarded as the archetype of modern petrochemical units. The French engineer Armand Savalle developed his steam regulator around 1846. In 1877, Ernest Solvay was granted a U.S. Patent for a tray column for ammonia distillation, and the same and subsequent years saw developments in this theme for oils and spirits.


title: Distillation

text: With the emergence of chemical engineering as a discipline at the end of the 19th century, scientific rather than empirical methods could be applied. The developing petroleum industry in the early 20th century provided the impetus for the development of accurate design methods, such as the McCabe–Thiele method by Ernest Thiele and the Fenske equation. The first industrial plant in the United States to use distillation as a means of ocean desalination opened in Freeport, Texas in 1961 with the hope of bringing water security to the region.


title: Distillation

text: The availability of powerful computers has allowed direct computer simulations of distillation columns.


title: Distillation

text: The application of distillation can roughly be divided into four groups: laboratory scale, industrial distillation, distillation of herbs for perfumery and medicinals (herbal distillate), and food processing. The latter two are distinctively different from the former two in that distillation is not used as a true purification method but more to transfer all volatiles from the source materials to the distillate in the processing of beverages and herbs.


title: Distillation

text: The main difference between laboratory scale distillation and industrial distillation are that laboratory scale distillation is often performed on a batch basis, whereas industrial distillation often occurs continuously. In batch distillation, the composition of the source material, the vapors of the distilling compounds, and the distillate change during the distillation. In batch distillation, a still is charged (supplied) with a batch of feed mixture, which is then separated into its component fractions, which are collected sequentially from most volatile to less volatile, with the bottoms – remaining least or non-volatile fraction – removed at the end. The still can then be recharged and the process repeated.


title: Distillation

text: In continuous distillation, the source materials, vapors, and distillate are kept at a constant composition by carefully replenishing the source material and removing fractions from both vapor and liquid in the system. This results in a more detailed control of the separation process.


title: Distillation

text: The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the pressure around the liquid, enabling bubbles to form without being crushed. A special case is the normal boiling point, where the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the ambient atmospheric pressure.


title: Distillation

text: It is a misconception that in a liquid mixture at a given pressure, each component boils at the boiling point corresponding to the given pressure, allowing the vapors of each component to collect separately and purely. However, this does not occur, even in an idealized system. Idealized models of distillation are essentially governed by Raoult's law and Dalton's law and assume that vapor–liquid equilibria are attained.


title: Distillation

text: Raoult's law states that the vapor pressure of a solution is dependent on 1) the vapor pressure of each chemical component in the solution and 2) the fraction of solution each component makes up, a.k.a. the mole fraction. This law applies to ideal solutions, or solutions that have different components but whose molecular interactions are the same as or very similar to pure solutions.


title: Distillation

text: Dalton's law states that the total pressure is the sum of the partial pressures of each individual component in the mixture. When a multi-component liquid is heated, the vapor pressure of each component will rise, thus causing the total vapor pressure to rise. When the total vapor pressure reaches the pressure surrounding the liquid, boiling occurs and liquid turns to gas throughout the bulk of the liquid. A mixture with a given composition has one boiling point at a given pressure when the components are mutually soluble. A mixture of constant composition does not have multiple boiling points.


title: Distillation

text: An implication of one boiling point is that lighter components never cleanly "boil first". At boiling point, all volatile components boil, but for a component, its percentage in the vapor is the same as its percentage of the total vapor pressure. Lighter components have a higher partial pressure and, thus, are concentrated in the vapor, but heavier volatile components also have a (smaller) partial pressure and necessarily vaporize also, albeit at a lower concentration in the vapor. Indeed, batch distillation and fractionation succeed by varying the composition of the mixture. In batch distillation, the batch vaporizes, which changes its composition; in fractionation, liquid higher in the fractionation column contains more lights and boils at lower temperatures. Therefore, starting from a given mixture, it appears to have a boiling range instead of a boiling point, although this is because its composition changes: each intermediate mixture has its own, singular boiling point.


title: Distillation

text: The idealized model is accurate in the case of chemically similar liquids, such as benzene and toluene. In other cases, severe deviations from Raoult's law and Dalton's law are observed, most famously in the mixture of ethanol and water. These compounds, when heated together, form an azeotrope, which is when the vapor phase and liquid phase contain the same composition. Although there are computational methods that can be used to estimate the behavior of a mixture of arbitrary components, the only way to obtain accurate vapor–liquid equilibrium data is by measurement.


title: Distillation

text: It is not possible to completely purify a mixture of components by distillation, as this would require each component in the mixture to have a zero partial pressure. If ultra-pure products are the goal, then further chemical separation must be applied. When a binary mixture is vaporized and the other component, e.g., a salt, has zero partial pressure for practical purposes, the process is simpler.


title: Distillation

text: Heating an ideal mixture of two volatile substances, A and B, with A having the higher volatility, or lower boiling point, in a batch distillation setup (such as in an apparatus depicted in the opening figure) until the mixture is boiling results in a vapor above the liquid that contains a mixture of A and B. The ratio between A and B in the vapor will be different from the ratio in the liquid. The ratio in the liquid will be determined by how the original mixture was prepared, while the ratio in the vapor will be enriched in the more volatile compound, A (due to Raoult's Law, see above). The vapor goes through the condenser and is removed from the system. This, in turn, means that the ratio of compounds in the remaining liquid is now different from the initial ratio (i.e., more enriched in B than in the starting liquid).


title: Distillation

text: The result is that the ratio in the liquid mixture is changing, becoming richer in component B. This causes the boiling point of the mixture to rise, which results in a rise in the temperature in the vapor, which results in a changing ratio of A : B in the gas phase (as distillation continues, there is an increasing proportion of B in the gas phase). This results in a slowly changing ratio of A : B in the distillate.


title: Distillation

text: If the difference in vapour pressure between the two components A and B is large – generally expressed as the difference in boiling points – the mixture in the beginning of the distillation is highly enriched in component A, and when component A has distilled off, the boiling liquid is enriched in component B.


title: Distillation

text: Continuous distillation is an ongoing distillation in which a liquid mixture is continuously (without interruption) fed into the process and separated fractions are removed continuously as output streams occur over time during the operation. Continuous distillation produces a minimum of two output fractions, including at least one volatile distillate fraction, which has boiled and been separately captured as a vapor and then condensed to a liquid. There is always a bottoms (or residue) fraction, which is the least volatile residue that has not been separately captured as a condensed vapor.


title: Distillation

text: Continuous distillation differs from batch distillation in the respect that concentrations should not change over time. Continuous distillation can be run at a steady state for an arbitrary amount of time. For any source material of specific composition, the main variables that affect the purity of products in continuous distillation are the reflux ratio and the number of theoretical equilibrium stages, in practice determined by the number of trays or the height of packing. Reflux is a flow from the condenser back to the column, which generates a recycle that allows a better separation with a given number of trays. Equilibrium stages are ideal steps where compositions achieve vapor–liquid equilibrium, repeating the separation process and allowing better separation given a reflux ratio. A column with a high reflux ratio may have fewer stages, but it refluxes a large amount of liquid, giving a wide column with a large holdup. Conversely, a column with a low reflux ratio must have a large number of stages, thus requiring a taller column.


title: Distillation

text: Both batch and continuous distillations can be improved by making use of a fractionating column on top of the distillation flask. The column improves separation by providing a larger surface area for the vapor and condensate to come into contact. This helps it remain at equilibrium for as long as possible. The column can even consist of small subsystems ('trays' or 'dishes') which all contain an enriched, boiling liquid mixture, all with their own vapor–liquid equilibrium.


title: Distillation

text: There are differences between laboratory-scale and industrial-scale fractionating columns, but the principles are the same. Examples of laboratory-scale fractionating columns (in increasing efficiency) include


title: Distillation

text: Laboratory scale distillations are almost exclusively run as batch distillations. The device used in distillation, sometimes referred to as a "still", consists at a minimum of a reboiler or "pot" in which the source material is heated, a condenser in which the heated vapor is cooled back to the liquid state, and a receiver in which the concentrated or purified liquid, called the distillate, is collected. Several laboratory scale techniques for distillation exist (see also ).


title: Distillation

text: A completely sealed distillation apparatus could experience extreme and rapidly varying internal pressure, which could cause it to burst open at the joints. Therefore, some path is usually left open (for instance, at the receiving flask) to allow the internal pressure to equalize with atmospheric pressure. Alternatively, a vacuum pump may be used to keep the apparatus at a lower than atmospheric pressure. If the substances involved are air- or moisture-sensitive, the connection to the atmosphere can be made through one or more drying tubes packed with materials that scavenge the undesired air components, or through bubblers that provide a movable liquid barrier. Finally, the entry of undesired air components can be prevented by pumping a low but steady flow of suitable inert gas, like nitrogen, into the apparatus.


title: Distillation

text: In simple distillation, the vapor is immediately channeled into a condenser. Consequently, the distillate is not pure but rather its composition is identical to the composition of the vapors at the given temperature and pressure. That concentration follows Raoult's law.


title: Distillation

text: As a result, simple distillation is effective only when the liquid boiling points differ greatly (rule of thumb is 25 °C) or when separating liquids from non-volatile solids or oils. For these cases, the vapor pressures of the components are usually different enough that the distillate may be sufficiently pure for its intended purpose.


title: Distillation

text: A cutaway schematic of a simple distillation operation is shown at right. The starting liquid 15 in the boiling flask 2 is heated by a combined hotplate and magnetic stirrer 13 via a silicone oil bath (orange, 14). The vapor flows through a short Vigreux column 3, then through a Liebig condenser 5, is cooled by water (blue) that circulates through ports 6 and 7. The condensed liquid drips into the receiving flask 8, sitting in a cooling bath (blue, 16). The adapter 10 has a connection 9 that may be fitted to a vacuum pump. The components are connected by ground glass joints.


title: Distillation

text: For many cases, the boiling points of the components in the mixture will be sufficiently close that Raoult's law must be taken into consideration. Therefore, fractional distillation must be used in order to separate the components by repeated vaporization-condensation cycles within a packed fractionating column. This separation, by successive distillations, is also referred to as rectification.


title: Distillation

text: As the solution to be purified is heated, its vapors rise to the fractionating column. As it rises, it cools, condensing on the condenser walls and the surfaces of the packing material. Here, the condensate continues to be heated by the rising hot vapors; it vaporizes once more. However, the composition of the fresh vapors are determined once again by Raoult's law. Each vaporization-condensation cycle (called a "theoretical plate") will yield a purer solution of the more volatile component. In reality, each cycle at a given temperature does not occur at exactly the same position in the fractionating column; "theoretical plate" is thus a concept rather than an accurate description.


title: Distillation

text: More theoretical plates lead to better separations. A spinning band distillation system uses a spinning band of Teflon or metal to force the rising vapors into close contact with the descending condensate, increasing the number of theoretical plates.


title: Distillation

text: Like vacuum distillation, steam distillation is a method for distilling compounds which are heat-sensitive. The temperature of the steam is easier to control than the surface of a heating element, and allows a high rate of heat transfer without heating at a very high temperature. This process involves bubbling steam through a heated mixture of the raw material. By Raoult's law, some of the target compound will vaporize (in accordance with its partial pressure). The vapor mixture is cooled and condensed, usually yielding a layer of oil and a layer of water.


title: Distillation

text: Steam distillation of various aromatic herbs and flowers can result in two products; an essential oil as well as a watery herbal distillate. The essential oils are often used in perfumery and aromatherapy while the watery distillates have many applications in aromatherapy, food processing and skin care.


title: Distillation

text: Some compounds have very high boiling points. To boil such compounds, it is often better to lower the pressure at which such compounds are boiled instead of increasing the temperature. Once the pressure is lowered to the vapor pressure of the compound (at the given temperature), boiling and the rest of the distillation process can commence. This technique is referred to as vacuum distillation and it is commonly found in the laboratory in the form of the rotary evaporator.


title: Distillation

text: This technique is also very useful for compounds which boil beyond their decomposition temperature at atmospheric pressure and which would therefore be decomposed by any attempt to boil them under atmospheric pressure.


title: Distillation

text: Molecular distillation is vacuum distillation below the pressure of 0.01 torr. 0.01 torr is one order of magnitude above high vacuum, where fluids are in the free molecular flow regime, i.e. the mean free path of molecules is comparable to the size of the equipment. The gaseous phase no longer exerts significant pressure on the substance to be evaporated, and consequently, rate of evaporation no longer depends on pressure. That is, because the continuum assumptions of fluid dynamics no longer apply, mass transport is governed by molecular dynamics rather than fluid dynamics. Thus, a short path between the hot surface and the cold surface is necessary, typically by suspending a hot plate covered with a film of feed next to a cold plate with a line of sight in between. Molecular distillation is used industrially for purification of oils.