I once left a cup of vodka in my room for over a day and I remember sipping it and it no longer tasted like vodka. It was bitter but didn’t have that “burn” to it. How long and also what is the chemical process that changes it into a non-alcoholic or less alcoholic beverage.
Side note: this popped into my head because I had a random hypothetical situation pop into my head. It goes like this: I’m in a position where someone has power over me. They encourage me to drink and I’m a lightweight but I know getting drunk isn’t wise. I also don’t have a choice. Would there be ANY possible way for me to fill my mouth with alcohol, hold it in there and then like open my mouth and let that alcohol aerate and settle and become less alcoholic, therefore not affecting me as much? I know this is a very unrealistic scenario I’m just very curious!
In: Chemistry
Liquids evaporate, where they become a gas even when not boiling. How prone a liquid is to evaporation can be measured by its vapor pressure. Vapor pressure is a measurement of how much of the nearby air is replaced by the vapor. A boiling liquid has a vapor pressure equal to the pressure of the air around it. Vapor pressure increases with temperature.
Water and ethanol (drinking alcohol) are both liquids at room temperature, but alcohol has a higher vapor pressure at room temperature. This means that the alcohol replaces more of the air with its own vapor, and thus more alcohol is lost for the same amount of airflow.
I cannot imagine the discomfort it would take to gargle vodka until it was non-alcoholic, but if you’re feeling curious sometime I’m sure you can do some testing.
Ethanol has a lower evaporation temperature than water. If you leave a pond of water there at room temperature, after a day or two it will be gone. Same with alcohol, just faster, and you will still have the water there because it takes a little more time to evaporate.
Maybe the ethanol oxidised to acetic acid? Did it taste like vinegar?
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