explain how you would obtain ethanol from a mixture of ethanol and water

Answer 1

I don't know the grade level you're in. I suspect the answer your instructor want is that you distill the alcohol/water mixture. Ethanol boils at a lower temperature than water, therefore, the alcohols comes off first. But that's not the end of the story. Ethanol/water forms an azeotrope, which is approximately 95% ethanol/5% H2O. That is as pure as you can get it by fractional distillation. If you want 100% ethanol, the last 5% of water can be removed with a molecular sieve.