Is the "alcohol" in everyday products (such as rubbing alcohol, ethanol solution) the same stuff in liquor?!


Question: Is the "alcohol" in everyday products (such as rubbing alcohol, ethanol solution) the same stuff in liquor?
I was wondering if they're the same stuff. When I say liquor, I'm thinking of vodka and EVERCLEAR. Obviously only an idiot would drink rubbing alcohol... I'm thinking rubbing alcohol is poisoned in someway to keep people from drinking it...? Can anyone confirm/deny this?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

As you realise there are many types of alcohol, the one found in ALL liquors, (that's vodka, everclear, beers and wines) is Ethyl Alcohol or ethanol (C2H5OH), no other alcohols are present in these liquors.

Pure Methyl Alcohol or methanol (CH30H) is highly toxic to humans, a 10% solution can lead to permanent blindness, it's added to ethanol to denature it or make it unfit for human consumption and also makes it tax exempt, the mixture is still drunk by alcoholics for it's ethanol content but can still lead to blindness, it's used as a solvent and in antifreeze.

Propyl Alcohol or propanol (CH3CH2CH2OH), is the main constituent of rubbing alcohol and is quite poisonous, it's used as a solvent and as an antiseptic.

EDIT: The only alcohol in Listerine is Ethyl Alcohol at around 21%abv, as in many medical products, the alcohol is there to dissolve the active ingredients which are quite insoluble in water, it's not there to stop you drinking it.

Alcohol rehab employee, and retired medical rep.



Governments usually want to control the manufacture and distribution of methanol and other alcohols. They put additives into alks we're 'not supposed to' drink, like Sterno and Lysterine. Other alks are poisonous.
Yes, rubbing alcohol is definitely poisoned.
*edit*
Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, central nervous system depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, and coma. Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized by the liver into acetone.>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubbing_alc…

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Rubbing alcohol isn't ethanol (the type in drinks) and it's also not methanol; instead it's isopropyl alcohol, which is not drinkable either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_a…




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