so i just watched a video of someone chug a bottle of rubbing alcohol that you would get from the pharmacy. its still alcohol though so like why is it bad. also what likely happened to the guy who chugged the bottle?
In: Chemistry
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It will make you drunk, but a different more sick feeling drunk. It can also mess with your stomach and digestive tract more than ethanol. Pharmacy alcohols are sometimes denatured, which means a small additive to make them taste really bad and possibly induce vomiting, basically strongly discourages drinking. Mouthwash has those too, but more consumption safe ones, so I would drink mouthwash over isopropyl. Mouthwash companies don’t want people getting sick from accidentally ingesting, so they claim the flavour and burn will keep people from abusing it.
Assuming a 16 oz bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol, he would have consumed four times the median lethal dose so he would almost certainly die. Initially he might appear intoxicated in a somewhat similar way to potable alcohol but 10 to 30 hours later as his liver metabolized it he would experience loss of vision initially and ultimately respiratory failure due to basically having embalmed himself.
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Isopropyl alcohol is a different type of alcohol. The type we consume is ethanol alcohol. Isopropyl initially causes the same type of intoxication symptoms and then nausea/vomiting when ingested. As it is digested, it causes diarrhea. If a large amount is ingested and left untreated, it can lead to unconsciousness and coma. It can also cause damage to internal organs.
“alcohol” is a fairly broad title chemically speaking. It simply describes a small part of the molecule that makes up all alcohols. The difference comes in with the rest of the atoms that make up the molecule. Each one is it’s own unique chemical.
In the case of isopropyl alcohol you will not get pleasantly drunk. It doesn’t interact with our system that way. It can dissolve the lining of your stomach in high enough doses and damage your digestive tract. In low doses it causes severe intestinal discomfort and nausea.
Drinking a mere 8 ounces of 90% pure isopropyl alcohol can kill an adult male. So depending on the potency of the isopropyl alcohol he drank he could die or be hospitalized in severe pain as they pump his stomach.
Different types of alcohol are totally different chemicals, not just different preparations of the same thing.
Isopropyl alcohol might get you a little drunk, but not the same as ethyl alcohol (the alcohol in alcoholic drinks). It’s also very irritating to your stomach and can cause severe pain, vomiting, and bleeding from your stomach.
Fortunately you’re not likely to die. Metabolizing isopropyl alcohol produces a lot of acetone in your blood, but your body is pretty good at getting rid of that. Other alcohols like methanol are much more toxic, and can cause death and other permanent bad stuff.
>its still alcohol though so like why is it bad
Alcohol is bad, just like, generally, though. Consuming straight ethanol is still going to be a bad time, despite it being the kind of alcohol that is in alcoholic drinks. Hopefully the person would vomit immediately and then just be very drunk. Worst case they have alcohol poisoning and everything that comes with that, up to and including death.
Luckily for the guy who chugged the bottle, isopropyl alcohol isn’t that much more toxic than ethanol (as, for example, methanol is. You definitely do not want to drink methanol under any circumstances.) It’s probably going to be a bit more irritating to his digestive tract but hopefully with opportune vomiting and/or medical attention he survived.
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