Question

What are the products formed when ethanol burns in air? Write the chemical reaction.

Answer 1

Hint: The burning of organic compounds in the presence of abundance of air is known as a combustion reaction. The organic compound tends to get oxidized by the oxygen present in air upon getting ignited and gives gaseous products.

Complete answer:
Ethanol is a member of the hydrocarbon family that is combustible in nature. Being a hydrocarbon with a lesser number of carbon atoms, it is highly volatile in nature. It burns in the presence of oxygen and the chemical reaction is known as a combustion reaction.
Hydrocarbons show combustion reactions and form specific gaseous products i.e. carbon dioxide gas and water vapours. Along with the liberation of these gases a large amount of heat is also evolved in the process.
The number of moles of carbon dioxide produced and water produced in the reaction depends upon the formula of the hydrocarbon involved. Ethanol has a prefix ‘eth’ indicating that the parent chain contains two carbon atoms and the suffix ‘ol’ indicates that the alcohol functional group is attached to the parent chain.
The balanced chemical equation for the combustion reaction of ethanol is written as follows:
\[{C_2}{H_5}OH + 3{O_2} \to 2C{O_2}(g) + 3{H_2}O(g) + heat\]
Hence, the products formed on burning ethanol are carbon dioxide and water vapour.

Note:
Ethanol is highly combustible in nature and instantly catches fire upon heating, therefore ethanol as a reactant must be carefully used in laboratories. Whenever ethanol needs to be heated, it should be done in a water bath and not directly so as to prevent splashing and burning.