Reflection:
Methanol was discovered in 1661 by Robert Boyle whom is a Irish chemists. He found that it is a byproduct of the distillation of wood. People called it wood alcohol because it came from wood. In the 1920's was when methanol(wood alcohol) really killed people. Prohibition was taking place in the 20's and people were disparate for a drink, so they would distilled wood to get the alcohol out of it. At first no one new how bad methanol really was. 10mL of wood alcohol can cause permeate blindness and even deafness. This happens because when the methanol breaks down in the stomach and formic acid is created. The formic acid destroys the optic nerves. At 30mL it can be potentially fatal, and 100mL is death by respiratory failure. Methanol is a colorless liquid that smelled very similar to drinking alcohol. It's also very flammable. Methanol is always around us, it's in fruits and vegetables, cigarette smoke, alcohol, and in some fuels for cars. The reason why we do not die when we drinking drinking alcohol, such as wine, beer, cocktails, etc. is because the methanol is in the from of ethanol. Our body can take out ethanol much easier with out forming formic acid. The reason for this is because ethanol is made differently then methanol. Methanol is made from distilling wood and ethanol is made from the chemical break down of foods in a factory.
The reason why I chose this chemical to do my project on was because I was fascinated that people would drink this and they didn't even care that it might kill them. More people died from prohibition then when it wasn't in affect. The government thought prohibition would decrease the criminal crime and deaths, but it really brought it up. It amazed me how the government thought taking away alcohol would help, when it really didn't. If I were to do this project again I would chose a different chemical. I chose this chemical because I couldn't remember the name of the one I wanted to do. I also would wright a made up story of a person who loved drinking and how prohibition effected him. If I were to extend this project I would make a video/news report story of one of the first people who died after prohibition. The reason why I would chose to do a new report is because when people first started dyeing after prohibition people were confused on how all of these people were dying.
