what is methylated spirit made from, and what chemicals does it contain?

Answer 1

http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/ME/methylated_spirit.html

Don't try drinking it!

Answer 2

Methylated Spirits Ingredients

Answer 3

White spirit is paraffin derivative and contains a range of aliphatic hydrocarbons with 7 to 12 length carbon chains. Methylated spirit is treated ethanol (alcohol), rendered undrunkable and usually dyed.

Answer 4

Methylated spirit (or Meths, also denatured alcohol) is ethanol which has been rendered toxic or otherwise undrinkable, and in some cases dyed. It is used for purposes such as fuel for spirit burners and camping stoves, and as a solvent. Traditionally, the main additive was 10% methanol, which gave rise to its name, but this is not always the case now. There are diverse industrial uses for ethanol, and therefore literally hundreds of recipes for denaturing ethanol. Typical additives are methanol, isopropanol, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, denatonium, and even (uncommonly) aviation gasoline.

As used in the phrase denatured alcohol, denatured means "a specific property of ethanol, its usefulness as a beverage, is removed". The ethanol molecule is not denatured in the sense that its chemical structure is altered.

There is no duty on methylated spirit in most countries making it considerably cheaper than pure ethanol. Consequently its composition is tightly defined by government regulations which vary between countries. Different additives are used to make it both unpalatable and poisonous in such a way that is hard to rectify through distillation or other simple processes (methanol is common for this use in part because it has a boiling point close to that of ethanol, and separating it by distillation is more expensive than the taxes on beverage alcohol). It is also often dyed blue or purple with an aniline dye, although in Australia and New Zealand fluorescein is used instead.

The Irish specification is typical. The following are added to ethanol to make it into methylated spirit.

9.5 % naphtha
0.5 % pyridine
0.025 ounce (0.709 grams) methyl violet dye per 100 gallons (378.5 litres) of ethanol
0.375 % petroleum oil
The naphtha and pyridine may be replaced with 10% methanol.

The tax-exempt status for denatured alcohol dates from the mid 19th century, for instance the United Kingdom introduced legislation in 1855 to permit ethanol containing 10% wood-naphtha to be exempt.

Despite its poisonous nature, methylated spirit (or "meths") is sometimes drunk, alone or mixed with other substances, by alcoholics who have become destitute. As such, there is an argument that the methanol or other poisonous component should be removed because it can cause death and blindness. In Britain, the term "meths" is now sometimes used simply to refer to a homeless or destitute person. It is also common to add a vomiting (emetic) agent, which serves a similar purpose without the fatal side-effects. Likewise, denatonium adds a bitter taste but will not kill.

It is not the methanol itself that is toxic, but the accumulation of its metabolites formaldehyde and formic acid. Because the metabolic pathways for ethanol and methanol share a common enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, ethanol can be used to treat methanol poisoning by blockading the enzyme until the body can excrete enough methanol through the lungs and skin. (In a documented case, a shipworker poisoned while cleaning out a methanol tank was successfully treated with administration of a good portion of the liquor in the ship's "medicine chest.")

Answer 5

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There isn't one formula for that, because it's a mixture, not a compound. The principal ingredient is ethanol, but the denaturing agent can be any number of things, as enumerated in the source below. There's no way I can tell which kind you have.

Answer 6

Basically it's ethyl acohol, aka ethanol, which is the same alcohol people drink. However, its composition has been changed, so it's no longer drinkable. Here's a wikipedia article about it.

Answer 7

It's no good for making a bomb with - it'll evaporate too quickly.

Answer 8

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