Precipitation (chemistry)

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In an aqueous solution, precipitation is the process of transforming a dissolved substance into an insoluble solid from a supersaturated solution.^[1][2] The solid formed is called the precipitate.^[3] In case of an inorganic chemical reaction leading to precipitation, the chemical reagent causing the solid to form is called the precipitant.^[4]

The clear liquid remaining above the precipitated or the centrifuged solid phase is also called the supernate or supernatant.

The notion of precipitation can also be extended to other domains of chemistry (organic chemistry and biochemistry) and even be applied to the solid phases (e.g. metallurgy and alloys) when solid impurities segregate from a solid phase.