Question

How can you distinguish ethanoic acid and ethanol using the chemical properties?

Answer 1

Ethanol: Ethanol neither reacts with Sodium bicarbonate (Na H CO₃) nor changes the colour of a blue litmus paper.

Ethanoic acid: Ethanoic acid is a weak acid which reacts with Sodium bicarbonate (Na H CO₃) releasing CO2, H2 gas along with CH3COONa. Also, it turns blue litmus into red.