What Is The Difference Between Rubbing Alcohol And Denatured Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol is either isopropyl alcohol or ethanol based liquids or the comparable british pharmacopoeia bp defined surgical spirit with isopropyl alcohol products being the most widely available rubbing alcohol is denatured and undrinkable even if it is ethanol based due to the bitterants added.

For the reader s clarity ethyl alcohol goes through a denaturing process. The key difference between isopropyl alcohol and denatured alcohol is that the isopropyl alcohol has three carbon atoms whereas the denatured alcohol mainly contains ethanol which has two carbon atoms. They are liquids used primarily as a topical antiseptic. Denatured alcohol is grain alcohol ethanol with added methanol also known as wood alcohol.

The main difference is that ipa shouldn t be used in certain applications because it won t be as effective as denatured alcohol whereas the latter shouldn t be used to replace ipa because it is highly toxic and could be dangerous. Denatured alcohol is used as a solvent a fuel additive and for sanding or finishing purposes and should never be applied as an antiseptic or consumed. Thus if you are researching what is the difference between denatured alcohol and rubbing alcohol you are in the right column. Both can be used as cleaning agents and as solvents in a variety of industries.

The purpose is to discourage recreational human consumption by including additives that are bad tasting bad smelling or nauseating. To summarize rubbing alcohol works as a minor cleaning solvent and is meant to be applied as an antiseptic. Isopropyl alcohol and denatured alcohol falls under the category of alcohol since they have a oh group. Rubbing alcohol is a generic term and is usually manufactured with isopropyl alcohol.

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Isopropyl alcohol and denatured alcohol can be alternated in some applications. This keeps the amount of alcohol in a drink much lower than the concentrationfound in rubbing alcohol. Denatured alcohol is ethanol ethyl alcohol made unfit for human consumption by adding one or more chemicals denaturants to it denaturing refers to removing a property from the alcohol being able to drink it not to chemically altering or decomposing it so denatured alcohol contains ordinary ethyl alcohol. Alcohol that is relatively safe for human consumption is ethanol based and contains much less alcohol produced by distillation or the fermentation of sugars.

Denatured alcohol or grain alcohol is consumable by humans if the alcohol is not denatured. Different brands of denatured alcohol contain various denaturants such as bittering agents. It is called denatured because a poison has been added to the drinkable ethanol for tax reasons. A 50 50 mix of either rubbing alcohol and denatured alcohol will work for prep cleaning.

Rubbing alcohol is close to 100 alcohol.