How can ethanol and ethanoic acid be differentiated on the basis of their physical and chemical properties?

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Solution

Ethanol and Ethanoic acid be differentiated on the basis of their following properties:
Ethanol is a liquid at room temperature with a pleasant smell, whereas ethanoic acid has a smell like vinegar.
Ethanoic acid has a melting point of 17°C. Since it is below the room temperature so, it freezes during winter. Moreover, the ethanol melting point is -114.1 °C.
Ethanol does not react with metal carbonates while, ethanoic acid reacts with metal carbonates to form salt, water and carbon dioxide.
For example, $2 C H_{3} C O O H + N a_{2} C O_{3} ⟶ 2 C H_{3} C O O N a + C O_{2} + H_{2} O$
Ethanol does not react with NaOH while ethanoic acid reacts with NaOH to form sodium ethanoate and water.
For example, $C H_{3} C O O H + N a O H ⟶ C H_{3} C O O N a + H_{2} O$ Ethanol is oxidized to give ethanoic acid in presence of acidified $K M n O_{4}$ while, no reaction takes place with ethanoic acid in presence of acidified $K M n O_{4}$

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