Does alcohol react with vinegar?

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asked Jan 3, 2022 in Science by Souzajillip (680 points)
Does alcohol react with vinegar?

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answered Jan 8, 2022 by HuJennifer (2,490 points)
Alcohol does react some with vinegar and it makes a good window cleaner.

When you mix alcohol with vinegar you get a good and quickly evaporating window cleaner although vinegar itself works great to clean windows.

Mixing alcohol and white vinegar makes a quickly evaporating glass and mirror cleaner that can compete with the cleaning power of national brands.

This same recipe can also be used to give a nice shine to ceramic, chrome, and other hard surfaces.

You can also mix citric acid and vinegar together.

When you mix the citric acid and vinegar together it will bubble and also help to clean better than vinegar alone.

The release of gas (Carbon Dioxide, CO2) is why they bubble when they are mixed.

Vinegar and citric acid are acidic and baking soda is a mild base (alkaline), so they neutralize one another to create a salt and water.

All the chemicals are safe to touch (though they will sting if you get them in your eyes).

You can make your original citric acid drink by adding sugar or honey to water/hot water, then put in citric acid and stir.

You are able to make authentic juice by adding fruits juice or essence.

Vinegar is mild like citric acid, and gives a similar sour flavor.

To use as a substitute, start by tripling the amount of vinegar for citric acid in the recipe, and add more to taste.

The reason for this is that vinegar is a much weaker acid than citric acid, so you need more to get the same effect.

For regular cleaning, spray vinegar or a strong citric acid solution (2 ½ teaspoon of citric acid and 1 cup of water), and leave it for 15 minutes to 1 hour (the longer, the better).

Scrub with a brush, and flush.

Alternatively, you can spray dishwashing soap, though I found it is less effective for this cleaning.

Citric acid is also an effective washing machine cleaner to remove soap scum, limescale, bad smells and any build up inside the washer.

Mix one cup of citric acid with half a cup of baking soda and run the machine on a hot cycle with a cold rinse.

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