Talk:Ethanol

Template:Chemistry

Name

Why is the name of the article Ethyl alchohol and not ethanol. Ethanol seems to be the name consequently used in the rest of the articleFornadan 06:59, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)

  • I support a move to article title ethanol. Physchim62 20:49, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

"and that the economic irrationality of using grain-produced ethanol to replace petroleum can be seen from the fact that almost all industrial ethanol is produced from petroleum feedstocks" -- removed this because I don't understand the illogic -- Marj Tiefert 17:11 Aug 6, 2002 (PDT)

Uhm it makes sense, if indusrial grade alcohol is made from petroleum because its cheaper than grain why would you want to replace petroleum with grain-alcohol?

I have been annoyed by advertizments on Public Radio's News Hour by Arthur Danial Midland that imply that ethanol is their exclusive product made from corn. Some writers have expressed concern that ethanol as an additive to gasoline might be poisin if spilled into the ground water like the synthetic MTB. [daviddibble@aol.com]

Perhaps because petroleum is a finite resource and also prices are volatile? user:sjc
I wasn't arguing with the sentence, i was just reiterating it because marj found it illogical. It actually makes sense though, and that was what i was trying to say. It IS economically irrational to replace petroleum with ethanol when you consider the most cost-efficient way of producing ethanol is form petroleum feedstocksLightning 14:28 Oct 14, 2002 (UTC)

"Most alcoholic beverages are not useful to replenish the body's fluids, since they cause the body to lose more fluids as urine than are taken in by the beverage."
What is 'most'? Historically in Europe, alcoholic beverages were the only safe things to drink, and many/most? people drank only/majorly? beers & wines for their liquid intake. How does that compare to this statement?
~ender 2003-08-30 20:54:MST

I'm not certain what you're referring to. I find it unlikely that alcoholic beverages were ever the major part of a person hydration, and it seems useless. Alcohol, in any form, is diuretic. I suppose if it was watered down enough, it would be possible to drink more water than you would lose in urinating, but this wouldn't address the problem of water being unsafe to drink, except inasmuch as alcohol kills bacteria. AFAIK, the word most is incorrect, since all alcohol is diuretic. Tuf-Kat
I remember reading somewhere that letting substances ferment was one way to make them safe to drink. In Asia however they used to boil liquid (teas etc.) to kill bacteria etc., that was why they're more likely to have less genetic alcohol tolerance, because they didn't need to drink alcohol.
(I don't know if it's true though.) Tristanb 06:05, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)
Well, I was reading "Structures of Everyday Life" (a great book btw), and it talked about beers and things. Beers used to be so common that they dcouldn't even be bought for a coin, you used up tokens for each beer, which would eventually equal the smallest coin in circulation. I was also reading somewhere that water was not a popular drink, until the Puritans got to New England, as most water sources were polluted. Beer can be 3% alcohol by volume, so I'm assuming that 30-1 ratio of water to alcohol might be enough to give you a net gain in retaining water. But, like I said, I'm interested in more information before I change the article.
~ender 2003-08-30 23:46:MST

This is going to be difficult to pin down. There are two different things being compared: [1] The concentration of alcohol in a beverage that would retard microbial growth, and [2] The concentration of alcohol in blood that suppresses anti-diuretic hormone release (most likely 0.07 - 0.09). But the concentration of alcohol in a beverage and blood alcohol level is not a simple correspondance, and depends on body weight, speed of ingestion, and many other factors. It is probably possible to drink only alcoholic beverages, never exceed a blood alcohol level of 0.6, and yet manage to take in enough fluid to supply metabolic needs. The question really is what is the strength of the evidence supporting the assertion that alcoholic beverages were the only fluid drunk by most Europeans (at any given period). Not terribly strong, I would think. It's also quite possible that something other than the alcohol concentration in the fermented beverages made them safe to drink. -- Someone else 06:56, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Maybe it's not the alcohol concentration, but the fact that fermentation allows harmless yeasts, (and bacteria) to overtake and outbreed any cholera bugs.
Apparently, cheap beer in Europe used to be very dilute: it led to electrolyte depletion if you drank it to cool you off while stoking coal fires. (source: a lecturer many years ago) Tristanb
How about: It is difficult to replenish the body's fluids using only alcoholic beverages because alcohol is a diuretic, and in the more potent drinks, causes the body to lose more water than is contained in the beverage.
~ender 2003-08-31 00:32:MST
With a bit of a change, I thin: it's not the potency (i.e., concentration) of the drink that matters, it's the dose of alcohol that's consumed in a given time period. (of course, high "potency" may make this more likely, but that's not what we said before). -- Someone else 17:37, 9 Sep 2003 (EDT)

Perhaps the use of ethanol as a car fuel deserves it own page? --Jorge Stolfi

See alcohol fuel - Centrx 16:18, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"A solution of 70-85% of ethanol is commonly used as a disinfectant..."

I see this figure given quite often, but unfortunately no explaination is given to why alcohol's most effective at such concentration. This is contrary to most disinfectants, which are more effective at higher concentrations; usually they are diluted because they are too toxic at higher concentrations.

Hopefully someone knowlegable can answer this, if just to satisfy my personal curiosity. At my local drug stores, isopropyl alcohol are often sold in at least two different concentrations: ~70% and ~90%. Some even offer three: ~70%, ~80%, and ~90%. Somehow I feel this is a marketing ploy... - Anonymous

My guess would be that although Ethyl Alcohol is more effective at higher concentrations as a disenfectant, from personal experience, alcohol stings much more at 90% than 70%. Firestorm 01:11, Apr 5, 2005 (UTC)

You are wrong, for optimal effects there has to be water in the alcohol, 75% (by weight, not by volume!) is usually used. Cacycle 10:34, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Anyway, for an experiment in my chemistry class, we mixed ethanol and water inside a closed system (a glass tube corked at both ends). Eventually, a bubble formed in the solution, apparrently either creating a gas or losing volume. I know that no reaction occurred, so can anyone help with this problem? Most likely the water molecules are fitting inside the ethanol molecules, reducing the volume and releasing bubbles, but can anyone confirm this? Firestorm 01:11, Apr 5, 2005 (UTC)

The bubbles are from liberation of dissolved air. It is the same effect if you mix soda water and it starts bubbling (CO2 in this case). Cacycle 10:34, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Formula

OK, now the formula in the box have changed repeatedly between C2H6O and C2H5OH. It should really not be impossible to find a final solution to this. I understand that C2H60 is the "correct" scientific formula, but the vast majority who read this page will not be chemists and C2H5OH is the most well known variant and is used in the main text. If C2H6O is the variant to be used in the box, then the reason for this should be commented in the article or it will just continue to confuse readers Fornadan 22:29, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

ethanolmoreexpensive than petro?!

ethanol is not derived from oil. that being so a lot countries have been considering the idea of either adding or replacing gasoline with ethanol in order to decrease the amount of oil they need to produce fuels.

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