Question

How acn ethanol and ethanoic acid be differentiated on the basis of their physical and chemical properties?

Answer 1

Ethanol has sweet odour whileethanoic acid has pungent odour.Ethanol does not react with sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) but ethanoic acid reacts with sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) releasing CO2 gas. Ethanoldoes not change the colour of blue litmus paper while ethanoic acidchange the colour of blue litmus to red.

Answer 2

On the basis of chemical property :

If we add ethanoic acid to ethanol then fruity smelling ester will be obtained.

On the other hand , if we add ethanoic acid to ethanoic acid , then no reaction occurs.

The reaction will take place under an acidic medium such as concentrated sulphuric acid.

This is a test to distinguish chemically .

Physical property :

Physical properties includes smell of compounds.

Ethanol has a sweet odour while ethanoic acid has a pungent smelling odour.

This is a physical test.