What is filtration called?

Filtration is simply called "filtration." It is a physical separation process used to separate solid matter from a fluid (liquid or gas) by passing the mixture through a medium that retains the solid particles. In specific contexts, it may have more detailed names. For instance, in chemistry, it might be referred to as "gravity filtration" if gravity pulls the liquid through, or "vacuum filtration" if suction is used to speed up the process. In biology, kidney filtration is called "glomerular filtration." In water treatment, it might be called "sand filtration," "carbon filtration," or "reverse osmosis," depending on the medium and mechanism used. However, the general term for the entire category of these separation techniques remains filtration. It is distinct from other separation methods like distillation, evaporation, or chromatography, which rely on different physical properties such as boiling point or molecular affinity rather than particle size and physical blocking.