Is alcohol heavier than water?
Sometimes you get the feeling that the last sip of an alcoholic beverage contains more alcohol than the rest. The question arises whether alcohol is heavier than water, or maybe the other way around. There is a scientific answer to this question.
To be able to compare whether alcohol is heavier than water, you first need to know what exactly alcohol is.
What is alcohol
- When alcohol is spoken of in general, it usually means ethanol. This special type of alcohol is also known as drinking alcohol.
- the chemistry However, an alcohol very generally means an organic compound with a single hydroxyl group (-OH). Therefore, methanol, propanol, butanol, etc. Alcohols.
- However, alcohols differ not only in their number of carbon atoms, but also in that spatial structure and the location of the functional group is crucial for the properties of the Link.
Are these compounds heavier than water?
- If one starts from the molar mass, one can say quite clearly that all alcohols are without exception heavier than water.
- The perceived weight, however, corresponds more to the density of substances. Water has a density of 1 g / cm³. If a connection has a higher density, it is perceived as heavier. If the density is lower, the fabric appears lighter.
- Methanol, ethanol and propanol each have a density of approx. 0.79 g / cm³ and are therefore lighter than water. However, since these substances are infinitely soluble in water, you will certainly not notice a concentration gradient. Likewise, all common monohydric alcohols are lighter than water.
- However, it looks different with di- or polyhydric alcohols. Due to the more numerous hydroxyl groups, more hydrogen bonds can form between the molecules and the density increases. Therefore these compounds are mostly slightly heavier than water.
Density of ethanol - informative
Ethanol is the chemical name for the well-known drinking alcohol. Its density ...
How helpful do you find this article?
