When the vapours of a
primary or a secondary alcohol
are passed over heated copper
at 573 K, dehydrogenation
takes place and an aldehyde or
a ketone is formed while tertiary
alcohols undergo dehydration Biological oxidation of methanol and ethanol in the body produces the corresponding
aldehyde followed by the acid At times the alcoholics, by mistake, drink ethanol,
mixed with methanol also called denatured alcohol In the body, methanol is oxidised
first to methanal and then to methanoic acid, which may cause blindness and
death