Question

though alcohol is neutral it can behave as an acid or as an base. Justify the statement,and the person who explains me detailed i will mark him or her as the brainlliest

Answer 1

Alcohols, like water, can show either acidic or basic properties at the -OH group. With a pKa of around 16-19, they are, in general, slightly weaker acids than water, but they are still able to react with strong bases such as sodium hydride or reactive metals such as sodium.

Answer 2

Alcohol is amphoteric in nature. Alcohol acts as base as it can accept H+ ions from mineral acids as well as water. Also due to the presence of highly electrostatic O atom the bond between OH is weak as the electron pair is attracted more to O, and therefore the H+ can be donated easily thereby making alcohol an acid.
Alcohols are slightly weaker acids than water but they react with strong bases like sodium hydroxide and metals like sodium. However the the oxygen atom present in alcohol make it a weaker base in the presence of a strong acid like sulphuric acid.