Alcohol amount in the aqueous alcohol solution

This calculator calculates the amount of pure alcohol in the solution of two liquids with different amounts of ethyl alcohol and water. It allows mixing not only the water with alcohol but use it for other fluids containing alcohol. To determine the solution with clean water, it is necessary to enter a zero in the column for the one liquids' volume concentration. Details of calculation and a bit of theory and history can be found just below the calculator:

The percentage of ethyl alcohol in the aqueous-alcoholic solution

Amount of liquid N 1

Volume concentration of alcohol

Amount of liquid N2

Volume concentration of alcohol

Units of liquidVolume in milliliters Mass in grams

Temperature °C

Temperature of the mixed liquids in degrees Celsius

Calculation precision

Digits after the decimal point: 2

Calculate

Volume concentration of alcohol at 20 ° C

 

Volume of the solution at 20 ° C

 

Volume of the solution at given temperature

 

Mass concentration of alcohol

 

Mass of the solution

 

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History

In the 19th century, at least one-third of the Russian Empire's budget was excise taxes on alcoholic beverages. The excise tax is calculated depending on the strength of the drink (amount of pure alcohol). Therefore, the task of determining the amount of pure alcohol was at the level of national importance. As long as this topic was not connected to science, beverage strength was determined with interesting methods. For example, for a long time, the most common type of strong wine in Russia was the so-called polugar (38% of alcohol). The way of proving the quality of Polugar was simple - set it on fire, and it will burn until half of its amount burns out.- if you set fire to Polugar, it should burn until half of its volume is burned out.
Obviously, burning alcohol to determine its strength is not convenient, so the next step in the Russian history of the vodka industry was to borrow the Western experience: determine the amount of alcohol with areometers (alcoholmeters) - the devices to determine the content of alcohol—they were already extensively used in the leading Western countries.

Alcoholmeters of the 19th century created for use in Western countries' mild climate gave poor results in Russian temperatures. Besides, there were different methods of measuring the volume and strength of alcohol. These premises served as an incentive to activate the domestic science in the studies of alcohols' solution properties.

Theory

Mendeleev held a serious study of aqueous-alcoholic solutions. While working on his doctoral dissertation, Mendeleev studied the change of the alcohol solution's specific mass with the concentration and temperature.
The volume (density) of the aqueous alcohol solution and any other fluid is temperature-dependent. The density of the solution decreases with an increase in temperature (the volume increases). The change is not linear, as well as water density's behavior with the temperature change. It is known that the maximum density of water is at a temperature of about 4 ° C, and then with any temperature change, the density decreases.
It also appears that the solution density nonlinearly varies with the alcohol concentration change. Surprisingly, the volume of water and alcohol separately is almost always greater than the solution obtained by mixing these components. The reduction of the volume of aqueous-alcohol solution, now known as contraction, reaches its maximum when the alcohol concentration in the solution is 50 to 60 percent by weight, see. the graph:

Dependence of the density of hydroalcoholic solution on the temperature and concentration of the alcohol

Temperature in degrees Celsius

Mass concentration of alcohol

Calculation precision

Digits after the decimal point: 2

Calculate

Density graph of hydroalcoholic solution

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A clear pattern in the change of the volume has not been identified. Instead, Mendeleev created the approximate formulas used to create the tables of density dependence of alcohol solutions of mass or volume concentration and the temperature. At present, these tables are used everywhere in the alcohol industry.
Our calculator calculates ethyl alcohol's mass and volume concentration in the aqueous-alcoholic solution of 2 liquids with a different alcohol content by linear approximation by aqueous-alcohol solution tables concentration and temperature (see Table 1 and Table 2 of [1]).

The amount of liquid can be set as the weight in grams or as the volume in milliliters. The volume of liquid depends on the temperature, so in setting the number of fluid through the volume, it is necessary to enter the temperature at which this volume is valid. Alcohol amount is usually expressed as a percentage of volume (% vol) that is not an unambiguous value without the temperature info (if not specified, it usually refers to 20 ° C). It would be much more accurate to indicate the amount in percentage by weight, which does not depend on temperature. Alas, traditions are tough to break.
Very few people will accept the fact that vodka would be immediate "less strong". In fact, 40% volume percent at 20 ° C is only 33% weight percent. Nobody will be reducing the strength of such a strategic beverage voluntarily :)

Sources:
1) Tables for determining ethanol amount in the aqueous-alcoholic solutions. Volume I. Moscow Publisher IPC standards.
2) Л.Б. Бондаренко Из истории русской спиртометрии