Alcohol and Society

Stage I Chemistry
Alcohol and Society


Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is a clear, colourless liquid, with a burning taste and an agreeable odour. Ethanol is an organic compound and is the most important of the alcohols, the chemical formula being CH3CH2OH. Produced by fermentation, it is the intoxicating ingredient in alcoholic beverages. Besides the part ethanol plays in the fermentation of alcohol, ethanol also has many other uses, making it the most widely used and popular organic compound.

Ethanol for industrial purposes is made by chemical synthesis, purified by distillation, and then denatured. Most industrial ethanol is denatured to prevent its use as a beverage. Denaturing involves mixing ethanol with small amounts of poisonous or unpleasant substances to make the ethanol undrinkable. Ethanol has many uses as a solvent, raw material, extraction medium, antifreeze, antiseptic, and gasoline additive and substitute.

Ethanol can be oxidized to first form acetaldehyde and th...