The boiling point of alcohol

Under normal atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of alcohol is 78.3 ° C (for ethanol). It should be borne in mind that this temperature always remains unchanged, even when the heat supply is continuous. This feature of the process is explained by the fact that the transformation of a liquid substance into vapor also occurs when a certain temperature, the heat of evaporation, fixed for a given substance is reached.

As the molecular weight increases, the boiling point of the alcohol increases, while the proportion has a reversed appearance for alcohols standing close in the row, starting from ethyl. Numerically, its value is much higher than the same figure for esters or hydrocarbons, which have the same molecular weight. Accordingly, this pattern extends to derivatives of these substances. This property is explained by the presence of molecular association in alcohols due to the presence of hydroxyl groups in the composition.

In many respects, the boiling point of alcohol is determined by its chemical structure. There is such a universal pattern: the more the composition of alcohol differs from the classical structure, the temperature of its boiling is lower.

When comparing the boiling points of different alcohols with the boiling points of ethers derived from them, a unique regularity is revealed: alcohols have practically anomalous in magnitude, very high temperatures.

More natural is the dependence of the boiling point on the value of the molecular weight of a particular alcohol. For example, the boiling point of ethyl alcohol is 78.15 ° C with a molecular weight of 46.069 a. At the same time, similar indicators for methyl are 64.7 ° C and 32.04 a, respectively. The same pattern is characteristic for all alcohols.

Hydrolysis of alcohol, as a rule, occurs when it reaches the boiling point, it is a fairly long process, lasting about ten hours.

Such parameter as temperature of burning of alcohol in many respects defines breadth of application of these connections in the industry and a life. However, one should take into account such an aspect as the type of combustion. Combustion reactions are classified into four groups. The first type includes all the combustion processes that occur due to the incoming oxygen contained in the ambient air. This includes the reaction of burning oil, as well as alcohol. This process is expressed by the following formula: C2H5OH + 3O2 + 11.3 N2 = 2CO2 + 3H2O + 11.3N2.

Investigating this formula, it should be borne in mind that it does not reflect in the full sense all chemical transformations that occur with substances taking part in the combustion reaction. The formula is made up of considerations that the air consists only of oxygen and nitrogen, the presence of inert gases in it is assumed to be zero.

The parameter we are considering - the boiling point of alcohol - causes its manifold use. This use to us is best known as the use of alcohols as combustible materials and constituent substances of various types of motor fuel. For these purposes, as a rule, methanol, ethanol and butanol are used, which are produced all over the world in industrial quantities. Such volumes of production are due to their commercial availability and high market conditions, moreover, these industries are in some cases used as criteria for indicators of the technological level of the state. Separate technological directions are the production of biodiesel, solvents, paints and many other products, which it is simply impossible to list in one small article.