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Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless, slightly toxic chemical compound with a distinctive perfume-like odor, and is best known as the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. In common usage, it is often referred to simply as alcohol. Its molecular formula is variously represented as EtOH, CH<sub>3</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>OH, C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>OH or as its empirical formula C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>O.