Difference between acetone and solvent.

A variety of solvents have long and deeply entered our life. And first of all, this applies to various types of construction work related to painting. Those who are older remember that earlier acetone was used to dilute oil paint or remove old paintwork, and there was simply nothing else on sale. Let's see how acetone differs from a solvent, more precisely, from the whole variety of solvents that are found today at every step.

From the history of the issue

Strictly speaking, any substance is a solvent capable of dissolving other substances in itself. Solvents can be liquid, gaseous and even solid. There is no need to list the names, because there are a great many solvents. In essence, ordinary water is also a solvent, and quite strong. Tea with sugar confirms this: in this case, both sugar and the substances contained in dry tea leaves are dissolved in water at once.

But if water is a natural solvent, then acetone was first obtained by man in 1595. His father was the German chemist Andreas Libavius, who carried out the dry distillation of lead acetate. However, acetone received its name much later - in 1848, when Libavius' compatriot Leopold Gmelin introduced this name into common use. The difference between acetone and a solvent is that acetone is the name of a specific chemical, and solvents are a whole class of various chemicals and compounds.

The exact chemical formula of acetone was established a little earlier - in 1832. This was done by the German Justus von Liebig and the French Jean-Baptiste Dumas. Before the First World War, acetone was obtained exclusively by coking wood, but the increase in demand for it prompted the search for more efficient production methods, which was eventually done. This is one of the many examples of how military needs are becoming the locomotive of scientific and technological progress.

Comparison

Solvents are classified as follows:

  • • inorganic or organic;
  • • by state of aggregation (liquid, solid, gaseous);
  • • by the presence of acidic or basic properties.

This is the most general classification, since each of the above items contains a fairly large number of sub-items, which are unnecessary.

Acetone, being one of the solvents, is used not only in this capacity. It has found wide application as a raw material for the production of certain chemical compounds, as a means for cleaning various surfaces of industrial equipment, and it is also added to acetylene during storage of the latter in pressurized cylinders, because this gas in its pure form is extremely explosive. However, despite the wide range of uses, the turnover of acetone with a concentration of more than 60 percent in Russia is under control. The fact is that this substance is one of the most popular among drug addicts.

Table

A compact table summarizes what is the difference between acetone and solvent.

Acetone Solvent
What isUnder normal conditions - a liquid with a boiling point of 56.1 degrees Celsius. Chemical formula CH3 — C (O) —CH3Numerous class of various compounds
Field of applicationAs a solvent (mainly), as well as raw material for the production of certain chemical compounds and as an additive to acetylene for its safe storageAs a solvent in all areas of human activity
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