Methylated spirits

Ethanol is an alcohol of formula, C₂H₅OH. It is flammable and used as a fuel. It is also an excellent solvent for many organic compounds. Ethanol is the component of alcoholic drinks responsible for their intoxicating effect. It is unusual to use pure ethanol in a school or college laboratory. The bottle opposite is labelled ethanol but is actually industrial methylated spirits.

Methylated spirits is an alternative to ethanol. Ethanol is very cheap to make, but very expensive to buy as it is heavily taxed by the government. Methylated spirits (meths) is ethanol to which around 10% of methanol has been added. Methanol is toxic and is intended to make the liquid undrinkable. Methylated spirits does not attract the heavy tax and so is much cheaper to buy. Commercial methylated sprits can be bought in shops. It is usually coloured purple with a dye. It also has pyridine added which gives it the familiar smell and makes it taste unpleasant. Schools and colleges usually use industrial methylated spirits (IMS) in place of pure ethanol. This is a colourless liquid, free of pyridine and dye, but still has the methanol added to make it toxic.