Question

Why is acetic acid called glacial acetic acid?

Answer 1

Hint: The term glacial is used for a substance related to ice or in general, glaciers. In chemistry, the term glacial is also used for those chemical compounds which have the tendency to form ice-like crystals at a slight less temperature than the room temperature. This type of phenomena where ice-like crystals are formed take place in pure organic acids which exist in their pure and anhydrous form.

Complete step by step answer:

The acetic acid is a weak organic acid whose dissociation in water or water like solvent is less than 1. The structure of acetic acid is as follows:

When acetic acid is in concentrated form or simply in undiluted form, it is sometimes known as glacial acetic acid. There is no trace of water present in it. The crystals of this anhydrous acetic acid form at a temperature range of ${16^o}C - {17^o}C$ . This temperature is way less than the room temperature but much greater than the freezing temperature of ice. Thus, when a liquid is associated with ice-like crystals, it is also known to be in its glacial form. This is the reason why acetic acid is also known as glacial acetic acid. This acid is classified as a weak acid since it only partially dissociates in solution, but concentrated acetic acid is corrosive and can attack the skin.

Note:
An acetic acid is used to produce various other products such as vinegar, a monomer of vinyl acetate, in the production of an ester, to yield acetic anhydride, is used as a solvent in various chemical industries, is used for various medical purposes, etc.