alcohol-acid or alkaline?

[patzi]

does adding pure alcohol to a cell make it more acid or alkaline

[Yinzer]

It makes it more drunk! I think it's alkaline, vinegar makes it more acid. Or maybe I have it backwards. Sorry, I know I'm not much help.

[New Forester]

Alcohol is neutral, or nearly so. (Vinegar is indeed acidic -- it contains acetic acid). Therefore Yinzer's first answer was right -- adding alcohol only makes it more drunk. Many alcoholic drinks do also contain acids, especially those made from fruits -- but it's the fruit acids doing this, not the alcohol.

[Ant9]

What type of cell? Plant or animal? Is it a single organism? Live or dead? If dead then there'll be no change. If live organism, with a very small amount of alcohol, it may digest the alcohol and therefore break it down into a salt or acid. More info needed. If it is a large amount of alcohol, eg a drop on a single cell. the cell would die as alcohol kills, think of things preserved in alcohol.

[New Forester]

For some reason I'd read patzi's question as an electric cell, but you're quite right, Ant9, it could be a living cell. Or perhaps a monk's cell...? The answer is much the same though, I'd have thought -- especially for the monk. I'm not sure how the usual aerobic metabolism of alcohol goes, but isn't it just to carbon dioxide and water? If so, I suppose a still-living cell with access to oxygen would become slightly more acidic from the carbonic acid.