Alcohol is the generic name of a family of chemical compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that always contain the functional group hydroxyl (-OH), the latter determines the characteristic properties of this family.
It comes from the Arabic word al-kuhl , or kohl , a fine antimony powder that is used for eye makeup. At first, the term alcohol was used to refer to any type of fine powder; However, later the alchemists of medieval Europe used it for the essences obtained by distillation, thus establishing its current meaning.
An alcohol is classified according to the type of carbon that carries the OH group (primary, secondary, and tertiary). Primary and secondary alcohols are colorless liquids with a pleasant odor, soluble in water in any proportion and less dense than water. While the tertiary ones are all solid.
The best known alcohol is ethyl alcohol or ethanol, it has countless applications as a solvent for organic compounds and as a raw material in the manufacture of dyes, drugs, cosmetics and explosives. It is also the constituent of alcoholic beverages. In fact, in common language, the word alcohol is often used as a synonym for ethyl alcohol or alcoholic beverage.
Alcohol is a substance obtained by fermentation or distillation whose therapeutic value is powerful. It is usually identified as a drug that produces habituation in everyday users.
The ethyl alcohol in alcoholic beverages such as wine, cider, beer, snacks, and spirits produce immediate effects of intoxication and long-term effects such as alcohol dependence.
This substance is rapidly absorbed by the stomach 20% and the rest by the intestine. Later it dissolves in the blood, which carries it to the brain, where it affects the nervous system. Due to this, it should not be handled when alcoholic beverages have been ingested; doing so can lead to traffic accidents.
Small amounts of alcohol do not produce harmful effects on health, but when consumed in large quantities its effects produce: depression at the heart level and tension; lowers body temperature, serious chronic disorders. The liver is damaged and liver cirrhosis or liver cancer can occur. The alcoholic may suffer from tremors, mental confusion, blurred vision, loss of appetite (malnutrition), or sometimes obesity.
Alcohol has a legal sale and is consumed very frequently in our sociocultural environment, that is why alcoholism is a very serious problem in our society, alcohol should be consumed with responsibility and caution, especially ingesting it by people over 18 years of age.
