Alcohol and the Human Body

Here is a colorless liquid that looks like water. It has a pungent odor and a burning sweet taste. Its chemical formula is C2H5OH. This is ethyl alcohol, the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages. It's made out of carbohydrates such as starch or sugar.

Cereal grains are starchy materials commonly used in making alcoholic beverages, out of wheat, beer is usually made. Beer contains about four and one-half percent ethyl alcohol, as shown by the striped area across the bottom of the bottle.

Grapes and other products that contain sugar can also be used to make alcoholic beverages. of grapes, wine is made. Wine contains about 15% apple alcohol. All alcoholic beverages are products of fermentation. As these samples of wheat and grapes are fermenting, alcohol is being produced. The raw material usually needs to be prepared for fermentation by breaking or cracking or crushing. Whatever

is being used, fermentation has to take place. Fermentation is the action of yeast cells on sugars to produce alcohol. The bubbles seen here are carbon dioxide given off during the fermentation. Beer and wine are products of fermentation alone. But whiskey, a third type of alcoholic beverage, requires distillation as well as fermentation. The alcohol is separated

from the other materials in the fermented mixture. In this case, the alcohol is made out of fermented corn mash. When the fermented mixture is heated, vapors are given off that contain products of the fermentation, including a relatively high percentage of alcohol.

As the vapors cool, they change to liquid and drip from the distillery. Turkey ordinarily contains about 43% or more of alcohol. When we compare the three kinds of beverages, we see that whiskey contains more alcohol than either wine or beer.