Will sand dissolve in ethanol?

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Answer 1 · 2016-05-19T05:59:07

#SiO_2# will not dissolve in ethanol.

Ethanol is sometimes supplied in glass bottles (certainly wine and spirits are!). Glass, (or #SiO_2#, sand), is a very inert material.

Concentrated hydrofluoric acid (which is rather nasty stuff, and which you will not find in a teaching laboratory) can etch glass:

#6HF + SiO_2 rarr SiF_6^(2- ) + 2H_2O +2H^+#.