INTRODUCTIONCLASSIFICATION OF DRUGSin alphabetical order
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classifiacation of drugs >>> alcohol >>>Alcohol
HISTORYIt is obvious that men have invented alcohol before inventing writing, metals or agriculture and even fire. In the 15th c. only a few nations in Siberia, North America and the Pacific Ocean didn't use it but then they quickly learned to use it too. Most probably man originally felt the effect of alcohol when he ate naturally fermented fruits: It's well known that many animals like doing this. Some godless people even claimed that apple that was forbidden for Adam and Eve, had some such unusual characteristics just because it had fermented - it was a little decayed. ALCOHOLIC DRINKSPractically all the alcohol, which people use to drink, is prepared with fermentation of products, which contain carbohydrates. The process is done under the influence of living organisms - barm (Saccharomyces). This doesn't allow the products to be too strong, because when the concentration of alcohol is higher than 10 - 15 % the barm die and the fermentation stops; in this way from grape juice wine is obtained, and from grain - beer. The highly concentrated drinks can be prepared only with distillation; in this way alcohol with very high degree can be prepared, but usually the concentrated drinks contain 40 - 50 % alcohol. The concentration of alcohol in different drinks is measured in degrees, which usually show the amount of alcohol in % (percent). Originally there were very different systems to signify the alcoholic content, some of which are still being used. Alcohol is taken by mouth. It is quickly absorbed in the stomach (20%) and the small intestine (80%). This process is faster when highly concentrated or fizzy drinks are drunk. A small part of alcohol is radiated out of the organism unchanged, but the main part of it is metabolized in the liver; after all the obtained alcohol is burn away and thus it can be assumed as an extremely caloric, although a very inadequate, food. |