What is the difference between alcohol, Ethanol, denatured alcohol, rubbing alcohol, methanol and isopropyl alcohol?
We run into all these different kinds of alcohol. Let's look at the differences. First there's the drinkable alcohol, like whiskey, beer and wine. This is ethyl alcohol that is produced by yeast. The yeast eat some kind of sugar or starch and turn it into carbon dioxide and alcohol. In wine the process is pretty simple - yeast eats the sugar in grape juice and creates alcohol. In whiskey, the alcohol is distilled to get the concentration higher. See how whiskey works for information on distillation. Ethanol that you purchase as a car fuel is the same kind of alcohol found in whiskey, but it has been distilled to the point where it is nearly pure alcohol (as opposed to whiskey which is typically only 40% alcohol and 60% water). See this page and this page for a quick introduction to ethanol production. Denatured alcohol - found in bottles at the hardware store or the drug store - is also ethanol. But it has been poisoned to keep people from drinking it. It turns out that...