A bottle of 80 proof alcohol is 40% ethanol and 60% water. What is the solvent in this solution?

Question

water

Answer 1

Technically it really makes no difference which we call the solute and which the solvent. By convention, we usually say the solid is the solute and the liquid is the solvent. In liquid/liquid solutions, we usually call the smaller amount of substance the solute and the higher concn material the solvent. Therefore most would call ethanol the solute and water the solvent.