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 heat is supplied continuously. This feature of the process is explained by the fact that the conversion of a liquid substance into steam also occurs when a certain temperature value is fixed for a given substance — the heat of evaporation.
With an increase in molecular weight, the boiling point of alcohol rises, while the proportion has the opposite form for alcohols standing close in a row, starting from ethyl. Numerically, its value is much higher than the same indicator for ethers or hydrocarbons, which have the same molecular weight. Accordingly, this pattern applies 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 ways, the boiling point of alcohol is determined by its chemical structure. Here there is such a universal pattern: the more the alcohol composition differs from the classical structure, the lower its boiling point.
When comparing the boiling points of various alcohols with the boiling points of ethers derived from them, a unique pattern is found - 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. E. m. At the same time, similar indicators in methyl are respectively 64.7 ° C and 32.04 a. e. m. The same pattern is characteristic of all alcohols.
Hydrolysis of alcohol, as a rule, is carried out when it reaches its boiling point, this is a rather lengthy process, lasting about ten hours.
Such a parameter as the burning temperature of alcohol largely determines the breadth of application of these compounds in industry and everyday life. However, such an aspect as the type of combustion should be taken into account here. Combustion reactions are classified into four groups. The first type includes all combustion processes that occur due to the incoming oxygen contained in the surrounding air. It includes combustion reactions of oil, as well as alcohol. This process is expressed by the following formula: C2H5OH + 3O2 + 11.3 N2 = 2CO2 + 3H2O + 11.3N2.
Studying this formula, it should be borne in mind that it does not fully reflect all the chemical transformations that occur with substances involved in the combustion reaction. The formula is made up of considerations that air consists only of oxygen and nitrogen, the presence of inert gases in it is taken equal to zero.
The parameter we are considering - the boiling point of alcohol - determines its diverse use. This use is best known to us as the use of alcohols as combustible materials and as constituents of various types of motor fuel. For these purposes, as a rule, methanol, ethanol and butanol are used, which are produced worldwide in industrial volumes. 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 state technological level. Separate technological areas are the production of biodiesel, solvents, paints and many other products, which are simply impossible to list in one small article.