Alcohol

In chemistry, alcohol is a general term which refers to many organic compounds used in industry and science as reagents, solvents, and fuels. Alcohols are carbohydrates which are made of an alkyl group with one or more hydroxyl (-OH) groups bound to its carbon atoms. Alchohol is colorless, and also transparent.

Alcohol for drinking

There is alchohol in beer and other drinks

In an everyday setting, the word alcohol is often used to refer to one type of alcohol called ethanol (also called grain alcohol ), which is a type of alcohol that people drink. Sometimes the term is used to mean any drink containing ethanol, such as whisky, vodka, or gin.

Ethanol is a colorless liquid which turns to vapor very fast, and has a strong smell. Ethanol is created by the fermentation of sugars.

Drinking ethanol causes a person to feel relaxed. Ethanol is very commonly used, and has been made by humans for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest and most used re-creational drug (drugs used for fun) in the world. People may overuse it for the same reason; this results in alcoholism (addiction to alcohol). If a person drinks a lot of alcohol, they become intoxicated, meaning that they get drunk. People will do strange things and cannot control themselves when they are drunk. All alcohols are toxic, but ethanol is less toxic because the human body can break it down quickly.

Names for alcohol

There are two ways of naming alcohols: Common names, and IUPAC names.

• Common names often are made by taking the name of the alkyl group, and adding the word "alcohol". For example, "methyl alcohol" or "ethyl alcohol".
• IUPAC names are made by taking the name of the alkane chain, removing the last "e", and adding "ol". Examples of this are "methanol" and "ethanol".

Physical and chemical properties

The hydroxyl group makes alcohols polar. Alcohols are very weakly acidic.

Common alcohols

The simplest two alcohols are methanol (or methyl alcohol) and ethanol (or ethyl alcohol), which have the following structures:

     H           H H
     |           | |
   H-C-O-H     H-C-C-O-H
     |           | |
     H           H H 
   methanol     ethanol

In common usage, "alcohol" often means ethanol or "grain alcohol". (See also: alcoholic proof).

Other commonly used alcohols include:

• Isopropyl alcohol (sec-propyl alcohol, propan-2-ol, 2-propanol) H₃C-CH(OH)-CH₃, or "rubbing alcohol"
• ethylene glycol (ethane-1,2-diol) HO-CH₂-CH₂-OH, which is the main substance in antifreeze
• glycerin (or glycerol, propane-1,2,3-triol) HO-CH₂-CH(OH)-CH₂-OH bound in natural fats and oils, which are triglycerides (triacylglycerols)
• Phenol, an alcohol where the hydroxyl group is bound to a benzene ring.