Compare the chemical composition of methane and ethanol to carbon dioxide. Which one can be said to be the complete oxidation of glucose? I thought is was methane but I got it wrong can you explain please.

Answer 1

Methane is CH4 and is oxidized as follows:
CH4 + O2 ==> CO2 + H2O (not balanced).
C2H5OH + O2 ==> CO2 + H2O (unbalanced).
C6H12O6 + O2 ==> CO2 + H2O (unbalanced).

You can see that methane, ethanol, and glucose are oxidized to their end products of CO2 and H2O when reacted with O2. CO2 is an end product; not so with CH4. By the way, CH4 is the primary constituent of natural gas. When natural gas burns it produces CO2, H2O, and a large amount of heat.