Is rubbing alcohol cold

Answer 1

No. The alcohol feels cool on your skin because of evaporation. The temperature of a mass is based on the average speed of all of its molecules. However, since it's an average, this means that some of the molecules might be moving a lot fast than the others, and some may not even be moving at all. What matters in temperature is the average.

However, each individual molecule has its own energy. Occasionally an individual molecule will acquire enough energy to break free from the mass - taking its energy with it. This is called evaporation, and over an extended period of time, a very large portion of the heat energy in a fluid will escape to the atmosphere in this way. You can test this at home on a day with low humidity using a swimming pool or a large bowl of water. If you let the pool or bowl of water stand for an hour or so, the water will become much cooler than its surroundings. This is also the method of operation used in evaporation coolers, dry towels, and even your sweat to cool things down.

The effect is much more noticeable with alcohol than with water, as alcohol evaporates much more quickly. This is why alcohol feels cold on your skin.

Answer 2

how long is a time question. that would depend on the temperature it was exposed to, if in a refrigerator, the cooling capacity (how efficient is that machine at keeping the temp lower than the freezing point of the alcohol, how pure is the alcohol (since rubbing alcohol is a mixture of alcohol and water and possibly a few other substances, and maybe a few other factors I'm not thinking of. There are too many variables, without more info there can be no answer.

Answer 3

It freezes. But its freezing point is well below the freezing point of water. The FP of water is 0 degrees Celsius, whereas the FP of alcohol is -117 degrees C. Yikes, that's cold!

Answer 4

There are several different kinds of alcohol and these freeze at different temperatures.

Answer 5

Rubbing alcohol feels cold when applied to the skin because it evaporates quickly, which draws heat away from the body. However, rubbing alcohol itself is not inherently cold.

Answer 6

Ethanol freezing point is at -114 oC.