Is it scientifically possible to drink a neat shot of 90 percent alcohol?

Question

i asked this Q earlier in Beer, wine and spirits, but i wanted a scientific answer regarding vapourisation point of 90 percent ethanol wrt body temperature specifically, as to weather the vapour from the spirit would make it impossible to drink. i have heard that once it hits your tongue some of the liquid vapourises from the heat filling your mouth with gaseous ethanol making you choke and not be able to swallow the liquid. Is this true?

is body temperature high enough so that the vapourisation of 9 percent ethanol is significant? thanks.

i want chemistry and biology answers please. none of this 90 percent ethanol is meths type stuff, or that one shot of 90 percent ethanol makes you go blind, its METHS that make you go blind, and ethanol is NOT methanol! or that one shot of any alcohol would KILL you, no matter how strong it is!

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Atzhyw000l8gMjgUSvjWHhUazKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080808195626AArKITA

im not talking about how tough one is that can make it possible, i am talking about body temperature and vapourisation points. if you say it IS possible can you please say HOW its possible because i have only ever been told of this stuff automatically vapourising on your tongue. thank you

Answer 1

Ethyl alcohol boils well above body temperature, but anyway, yes, I have done it.  Not exactly fine spirits or smooth, but it works just fine.

Answer 2

It's possible to synthesize 100 percent ethanol, although you can't use distillation to get to 100 percent because of the azeotrope of C2H5OH and water.

Ethanol, I seem to recall, boils at around 78C.  You body temperature is 37C.  So your body is not hot enough to boil ethanol.  Now, it is true that the vapor pressure of a liquid increases with increasing temperature, but I doubt that there would be enough vaporization of ethanol at 37C to cause any more problems than the 180 proof alcohol.

Alcohols are a class of organic compounds.  There are hundreds of alcohols.  And one must remember that EVERY alcohol is poisonous.  Every one of them.  It's just that it takes a little longer for ethanol to kill you.  Consuming very high concentrations of ethanol will probably hasten the process.

Methanol, or wood alcohol, CH3OH, does, in fact, attack the optic nerve.  So if it doesn't kill you outright, it will cause damage to your eyesight.

Answer 3

Ewwww...who would want to? Go with Grape Juice.  

Answer 4

yeah you could drink it but you would most probably die very soon after it, I hope your not planning on doing this, because as chris rock said...."yeah you can drive a car with your feet....that doesn't its a good idea, that doesn't mean you should do it!"