Question

Why is phenol more acidic than ethanol

Answer 1

The acidity of any molecule is decided by the stability of it's ANION. We know that one of the lone pairs of oxygen in phenol gets conjugated with pie e- of the ring, distributing the charge, making phenoxide ANION very stable when H+ leaves in aq.

In alcohols, alkyl groups rather pushes the e- on already negative oxygen, concentrating the charge on ANION rather making less stable hence less acidic

Answer 2

As phenol contains more no. of hydronium ions than ethanol..

Hope it helps!