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To: aculeus
Ethanol is C2H5OH. Methane is CH4. Ethanol is basically two methane molecules sharing a hydrogen bond, with one of the carbons holding a hydroxyl radical instead of a hydrogen.

An alcohol is formed by hydroxylating an alkane, which is exactly what ethanol is -- hydroxylated ethane. Remove the -OH radical and it is a simple hydrocarbon, methane's older brother. I'm not sure how you'd go about adding the hydrogen to the ethane molecule, but doing so would render one ethane into two methanes, and it would all still originate with ethanol.

16 posted on 03/02/2006 8:43:45 AM PST by IronJack
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