What is the differance between Ethyl and Isopropyl rubbing alcohol and which is better?

Question

Which is better for home use?

Answer 1

Ethyl alcohol (or grain alcohol) is used as an inebriating beverage,occasionally as a disinfectant, and as an emotional anesthetic.

Rubbing alcohol is a relatively simple alcohol. It is used for cleaning, disinfectant, and solvent. It is extremely toxic and ingesting it can be fatal.

cleaning info from wikipedia:
Uses

antibacterialSterilizing pads typically contain a 60-70% solution of isopropanol in water. Isopropyl alcohol is also commonly used as a cleaner and solvent in industry. It is also used as a gasoline additive for dissolving water or ice in fuel lines. Isopropanol is the main ingredient in rubbing alcohol. It is used as a disinfectant, and is a common solvent.

Isopropanol is a major ingredient in "dry-gas" fuel additive. In significant quantities, water is a problem in fuel tanks as it separates from the gasoline. If the engine tried to combust the water instead of gasoline serious engine problems could result, as water cannot be compressed by an engine (see hydrolock). The isopropanol does not remove the water from the gasoline. Rather, the isopropanol solubilizes the water in the gasoline. Once soluble, the water does not pose the same risk as insoluble water.

It is also a very good cleaning agent and often used for cleaning electronic devices such as contact pins (like those on ROM cartridges), magnetic tape deck and floppy disk drive heads, the lenses of lasers in optical disc drives (e.g. CD, DVD) and removing thermal paste from CPUs. It is also used to clean glass computer monitor screens (at some risk to the anti-reflection coating of the screen), and used by many music shops to give second-hand or worn records newer looking sheens. It cleans dry-erase boards very well and other unwanted ink related marks.

Answer 2

Ethyl alcohol is made from two carbon atoms while isopropyl alcohol has three carbon atoms. Ethyl acohol is the active ingredient in all types of alcoholic beverages. So you can't buy it except at a liquor store unless it has been "denatured". The term denatured means that they have added an ingredient that makes it poisoness.

For home use, I'm assuming that you are talking about cleaning applications. Perhaps removing makeup on the face or cleaning surfaces at home. It is commonly sold as "rubbing alcohol."

It is better to use the isopropyl acohol for two reasons. It is easy to buy, and it has a higher boiling point. Thus when you use it, it will not evaporate as quickly, the odor level will be lower, and the flammability will be reduced a little bit.

Answer 3

Ethyl alcohol is another way to say ethanol, which is what people drink for alcohol. It can be used for cleaning etc (it's often an ingredient in hand sanitizer because it evaporates quickly). I think isopropyl alcohol is better for home use (that's what we have at the hospital). I'm also making the assumption that you are using this for cleaning/disinfecting.

Answer 4

It matters not a whit what you rub with, but I keep ethyl alcohol in my kitchen and isopropyl alcohol in my bathroom (ethyl alcohol is the one in booze, but if you have some for external use, you can bet it has something added to keep you from drinking it). Come to think of it, if I have the urge for a liniment, the oral ethyl alcohol is usually called for.

Answer 5

Depends on what you want to use it for. Ethanol is the drinkable kind of alcohol. Isopropyl is rubbing alcohol.