Alcohol



Commonly referred to simply as alcohol or spirits, ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol, and drinking alcohol. It is the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts. It is a neurotoxic psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs used by humans. It can cause alcohol intoxication[1] when consumed in sufficient quantity. Ethanol is used as a solvent, an antiseptic, a fuel and the active fluid in post-mercury thermometers. It is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with the structural formula CH3CH2OH, often abbreviated as C2H5OH, C2H6O or EtOH. Note

[1] Symptoms of alcohol intoxication include euphoria, flushed skin and decreased social inhibition at lower doses, with larger doses producing progressively severe impairments of balance, muscle coordination, and decision-making ability as well as nausea or vomiting from alcohol's disruptive effect on the semicircular canals of the inner ear and chemical irritation of the gastric mucosa. Sufficiently high levels of blood-borne alcohol will cause coma and death from the depressive effects of alcohol upon the central nervous system.