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One technique used for separating and analyzing the components of a solution is gas chromatography.  Gas chromatography works on the same principle as paper chromatography or thin layer chromatography.  In gas chromatography, a lightweight gas (we are using ambient air) serves as the mobile phase (in paper chromatography, the solvent is the mobile phase). 

This technique is useful for gases or volatile compounds that vaporize quickly.  It is based on the partition, or distribution, of the sample components between a gaseous mobile phase and a liquid phase that is coated on the surface of an inert solid (the GC column).