On Feb 20, 14:01, Roger Merchberger wrote:
> Rumor has it that Tony Duell may have mentioned these words:
> >> > > Or you can call it "Isopropyl alcohol" or just "rubbing alcohol"!
> >> > > (But you want the 90+% stuff, NOT the 70%)
> >> >
> >> > But I don't think either of those are official convention.
> >>
> >> In spite of not being "official convention" (and sometimes not even
> >> CORRECT), when telling somebody to get something, it just might be
useful
> >> to them to know what it is called at the places that they buy it.
> >
> >Unfortunately the 'local' names are just that. Local. I've never see
> >anything called 'rubbing alcohol' for sale in the UK. I have seen it
> >labelled isopropanol or propan-2-ol. Since this is an international
list,
> >it would seem to make sense to use the official name and then to look it
> >up in a local chemical catalogue if necessary.
>
> Although I agree with you totally, for many things there is *no*
> international name. If you send anyone over to Wal-mart or K-mart for
> isopropanol or propan-2-ol, they'll *never* find it. I've only ever seen
> labeled is "rubbing alcohol" (which I'll admit is much too vague) or
> "isopropyl alcohol" and the percentage (you can get 91% at Wal-mart, but
> most places stock only the 70% AFAIK. (I'm looking at a bottle as I type)
> Even under the ingredient listing (required by law in the US) it's
> "isopropyl alcohol".
"iso-propyl alcohol" is the "old" name for it; "iso-propanol" is a more
modern version of the same name; the "systematic" name (used almost
everywhere *by chemists*) is "propan-2-ol". In this particular case,
"iso-propanol" and "propan-2-ol" give exactly the same information, since
there are only three carbon atoms, so the hydroxyl group can be either in
the middle (iso-propanol/propan-2-ol) or at an end
(n-propanol/propan-1-ol). If there are more carbon atoms, there are more
possibilities for branches and aatachment positions, so the "old" names are
less informative.
> Even "aluminum" is different, but I don't remember how different...
You mean "aluminium" :-) Like sodium, potassium, uranium, ...
^ ^ ^ ^
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Tue Feb 26 2002 - 13:32:09 GMT