Key Facts

Other Names:

Ethanol; grain alcohol; alcohol; ethyl hydrate

Formula:

CH₃CH₂OH

Elements:

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen

Compound Type:

Alcohol (organic)

State:

Liquid

Molecular Weight:

46.07 g/mol

Melting Point:

−114.14°C (−173.45°F)

Boiling Point:

78.29°C (172.9°F)

Solubility:

Miscible with water, ether, acetone, and most common organic solvents

Overview

Ethyl alcohol (ETH-uhl AL-ko-hol) is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid with a sharp, burning taste and a pleasant, wine-like odor. It is one of the first chemical substances discovered and used by humans. Ceramic jugs apparently designed to hold beer have been dated to the Neolithic Period, about 10,000 BCE. Some scholars suggest that humans may have learned how to make beer and incorporated it into their daily diets even before they made and used bread. The making and use of wine is a clear theme in Egyptian pictographs dating to the fourth millennium BCE. There probably does not...