Suppose that while you're in the lab performing a simple distillation you encountered one of the following errors: The components within the mixture, isopropanol and dichloromethane, distilled well below their boiling point. Poor separation between isopropanol and dichloromethane was observed. The initial volume of the distillation mixture has decreased significantly, almost dry, but no distillate was collected.

Isopropanol and dichloromethane, distilled well below their boiling point.

Explanation:

The best way to separate isopropanol and dichloromethane is the method of fractional distillation. In this method, different compounds separate from each other due to difference in boiling. The boiling point of dichloromethane is 39.6 degree Celsius which is lower than the boiling point of isopropanol which is 82.5 degree Celsius. So dichloromethane will be evaporated when the temperature reaches to 40 degree Celsius and separated from isopropanol before reaching its boiling point.

the answer is na (sodium)