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From: gadfly@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly)
Newsgroups: net.med,net.college
Subject: Re: prevention of hangovers
Message-ID: <1320@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jan-86 13:34:38 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.1320
Posted: Wed Jan 15 13:34:38 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 03:07:24 EST
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Xref: watmath net.med:3149 net.college:991

> > Friends who are organic chemists claimed that alcohol does not cause
> > hangovers but the impurities found with alcohol cause hangovers.
> > They always drank lab alcohol and never had hangovers.
> 
> doesn't this belong in net.jokes?  by lab alcohol, you don't mean
> methyl alcohol, but grain?  wouldn't that mean if you drank 190
> proof grain, you'd be home free?  too bad it's impossible to get
> 100% pure alcohol!  your organic chemist friends must have a good
> sense of humor.

What he meant was they drank the 95% ethanol, not the 100% pure.
After ethanol has been purified to 95% (the other 5% is water),
it is impossible to remove the rest of the water by distillation.
In order to make 100% ethanol, other organic solvents have to be
added and then removed.  The worst offender (from a health standpoint)
is benzene, traces of which remain in even reagent-grade 100%
ethanol (which certainly *is* possible to get--it doesn't stay that
way, though, if left open to absorb water from the air).  Back when
I worked in a p-chem lab, we always drank the 95% stuff, which we
called "vodka mix" (just add water).  We got plenty of hangovers.
We found that they could be made less severe if we also drank lots of
water so as not to get dehydrated.  That royal navy grog will dry
you out in a hurry.
-- 
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JE MAINTIENDRAI   ***** *****
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