Question

Why is ethanol used to clean surfaces, methanol not?

Answer 1

70% percent of alcohol is ideal to a stronger solution. Pure alcohol coagulates protein in contact. Suppose the pure alcohol is poured over a single celled organism. The alcohol will go through the cell wall of the organism in all direction, coagulating the protein just inside the cell wall. The ring of the coagulated protein would then stop the alcohol from penetrating farther from the cell, and no more coagulation would take place. At this time the cell would become inactive but not dead. Under the favorable conditions the cell would then begin to function. If 70 percent of alcohol is poured to a single celled organism, the diluted alcohol also coagulates the protein, but at a slower rate, so that it penetrates all the way through the cell before coagulation can block it. Then the entire cell is coagulated and the organism dies.