OT: cleaning pots on my vintage audio amp - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

26 Feb 2002

On Feb 20, 14:01, Roger Merchberger wrote:
...
  Rumor has it that Tony Duell may have mentioned these
words:
 >> > > Or you can call it "Isopropyl alcohol" or just "rubbing
alcohol"!
 >> > > (But you want the 90+% stuff, NOT the 70%)
 >> >
 >> > But I don't think either of those are official convention.
 >>
 >> In spite of not being "official convention" (and sometimes not even
 >> CORRECT), when telling somebody to get something, it just might be useful
...
  >> to them to know what it is called at the
places that they buy it.
 >
 >Unfortunately the 'local' names are just that. Local. I've never see
 >anything called 'rubbing alcohol' for sale in the UK. I have seen it
 >labelled isopropanol or propan-2-ol. Since this is an international list,
...
  it would seem
to make sense to use the official name and then to look it
up in a local chemical catalogue if necessary. 
 Although I agree with you totally, for many things there is *no*
 international name. If you send anyone over to Wal-mart or K-mart for
 isopropanol or propan-2-ol, they'll *never* find it. I've only ever seen
 labeled is "rubbing alcohol" (which I'll admit is much too vague) or
 "isopropyl alcohol" and the percentage (you can get 91% at Wal-mart, but
 most places stock only the 70% AFAIK. (I'm looking at a bottle as I type)
 Even under the ingredient listing (required by law in the US) it's
 "isopropyl alcohol". 
"iso-propyl alcohol" is the "old" name for it;
"iso-propanol" is a more
modern version of the same name; the "systematic" name (used almost
everywhere *by chemists*) is "propan-2-ol".  In this particular case,
"iso-propanol" and "propan-2-ol" give exactly the same information,
since
there are only three carbon atoms, so the hydroxyl group can be either in
the middle (iso-propanol/propan-2-ol) or at an end
(n-propanol/propan-1-ol).  If there are more carbon atoms, there are more
possibilities for branches and aatachment positions, so the "old" names are
less informative.

...
  Even "aluminum" is different, but I
don't remember how different... 
You mean "aluminium" :-)   Like sodium, potassium, uranium, ...
                ^                  ^          ^        ^

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York