During one of my grade 9 science lessons, (which I never listened because I was a little advanced) we we’re talking about Astronomy. My teacher (Mr. Lauzon) had mentioned for his professional paper he had backed up one astronomer’s theory that at the center of the Milky Way galaxy there is 1 million gallons (approx.) of some form of alcohol floating there. Now I know I’ve doubt teachers before, but should I brush this statement out of my mind? or is he onto something?
Molecules of ethyl alcohol have been identified in the interstellar medium and molecular clouds associated with protostars.
I don’t know how “center of the galaxy” and “1 million gallons” got into his statements, though. They’re quite misleading.
Wouldn’t that mean that the Alcohol could possibly aid in the fission? But wouldn’t it be burnt out LONG before the start reaches the White Dwarf point?
We had a “little bit advanced” kid in my H.S. calculus class. He would sleep a whole bunch. Head back and snoring! Of course we played pranks on him constantly. Usually things that resulted in extra homework for him.
Heh, I’ve never really done my homework. Teacher said I should of averaged a 93%, I don’t know what I got though, I never picked up my report card.
There is probabally lots of it out there - sapce is very very big. Maybe 1million was just a way to explane to kids that even though it’s rare - space being just so f$#@en big that it must contain a buttload of it.
So would it be possible for me to take Space-Tourist II to the center of the milky way and hold a frat party in due time? 
Maybe that explains the universe and the Galaxies. God created it all as a series of gigantic stills.
The teacher may have gotten it from the book Contact. Even though it’s a work of fiction, Carl Sagan wrote it and may have included a real reference. It’s in the chapter entitled “The Ethanol in W-3” and the quote starts on p 116 of my copy.
There was a story that made the rounds of the newspapers in the last few years about the spectroscopic detection of ethanol in a cloud in Sagittarius. Someone had calculated that there were X million gallons, or whatever, of the stuff in a particular region of space. Alcohols are fairly common organic molecules and it’s not surprising that they show up in space. They just aren’t common enough that you see them everywhere you look.
From the section labeled Molecular Clouds at:
http://astronomica.org/textbook/text/CH18.html
Before you start planning your Ramjet Bar & Grill, keep in mind that that interstellar cloud is spread out so thinly that it’s emptier than the best vacuum we can make on Earth.
It wouldn’t be a good idea. If I remember correctly, there’s far more methanol (the kind that makes you go blind) than ethanol. Not to mention other poisonous substances such as hydrogen cyanide.