or ethanol. In this chapter I’ll use alcohol in
its common sense, but I’ll also refer to
“higher” alcohols, or molecules in the alcohol
family with more atoms than ethanol has.
Ethanol, or common alcohol. The versatile
ethanol molecule has one end that resembles
the fatty-acid carbon chain of fats and oils,
and one end that resembles water.
Alcoholic Fermentation Helped Form
Modern Biology
The mystery of fermentation attracted
some of the best and most headstrong
scientists of the 19th century, including
Justus von Liebig and Louis Pasteur, and
helped give rise to the science of
microbiology. The first microorganisms to