Ethanol is a product that due to its chemical nature boils at an extremely lower temperature than water and many other substances. This is due to the fact that the carbon hydrogen molecule bonds in addition to the standard oxygen hydrogen pair also found in water create a more unstable and volatile substance that is more susceptible to high temperatures.

Because of its structure ethanol boils at a relatively cool 78.4°C (or 173.1°F), unlike water which boils at a relatively steady 100°C (or 212°F). This lower boiling point also allows ethanol to easily be removed from water in the ethanol production process and be harvested for use both agriculturally and industrially. This lower boiling point also means that it has a difficult time freezing and is commonly used as an anti-freeze product due to the fact that unlike water which freezes at 0°C ethanol must drop down to -114°C before solidifying, making it a highly versatile fluid in cold climates.

The most common application of ethanol is utilizing its heat and stability as a fuel source to provide a clean burning process and has even been encouraged by early auto entrepreneur Henry Ford as a primary source of fuel due to its combustibility and relatively readily available nature. The continued usage of ethanol production for fuel is the primary reason for most ethanol production today, though it still has a number of different applications such as antifreeze mentioned above as well as effective safe solvents that allow it to function in a number of different roles primarily based upon its boiling and freezing points making it a highly versatile liquid that has become a staple in your lives for the past few thousand years.