How to tell the difference between isopropyl and ethyl alcohol?

Question

I know the difference between the two. I need to clean my LCD screen, and after research, found that a diluted solution of 50% or less isopropyl alcohol is good for that. In my bathroom medicine cabinet, I have a bottle of "Rubbing Alcohol" (which can be either), but you're not supposed to use ethyl on screens. So how do I tell the difference between the two?

Answer 1

just go to the store and buy a product that is designed for your needs....

Answer 2

You could run it through a gas chromatograph...if you have one handy.

Answer 3

If you are not supposed to use ethanol on the screen, then I would not use rubbing alcohol either.

In fact the oxidation product of isopropanol is ACETONE, and ACETONE will causing crazing of a huge number of plastics!!

YOu are advised ONLY to clean with warm water and mild detergent anyway.

Answer 4

Without getting too high-tech about it, the two have a very different scent.  Perhaps this isn't terribly scientific, but it'd work.  If you've ever had a wiff of Everclear or Vodka, that's pretty much how grain alcohol smells (ethanol), whereas Isopropanol has an entirely different smell.

To tell you the truth, I'd concur with what one of the above authors recommended... Just go to the drug store and buy a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol and forget doing any chemical analyses and that should settle the issue.

Answer 5

Uh, it has to say what the active ingredient is. The manufacturer can't just sell bottles of "stuff".

If you're 100% sure it doesn't say it on the label, by law it has to, then look it up online by the manufacturer. Or like she said, just go to the pharmacy and buy a new bottle. They're like 99 cents.

Oh, and about what MaviGozler said - straight from the bible, aka wiki:

"Isopropyl alcohol is cheaply available. Like acetone, it dissolves a wide range of nonpolar compounds. It is also relatively nontoxic and dries quickly. Thus it is used widely as a solvent and as a cleaning fluid (by dissolving lipophilic contaminants such as oil). Examples of this use include cleaning electronic devices such as contact pins (like those on ROM cartridges), magnetic tape deck and floppy disk drive heads, the lenses of lasers in optical disc drives (e.g. CD, DVD) and removing thermal paste from CPUs. It is also used to clean LCD and glass computer monitor screens (at some risk to the anti-reflection coating of the screen), and used by many music shops to give second-hand or worn records newer looking sheens. It cleans white boards very well and other unwanted ink related marks. Isopropyl alcohol also works well at removing smudges, dirt, and fingerprints from cell phones and PDAs. It is effective at removing residual glue from sticky labels."