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To: Enigma who wrote (77105)	9/21/2001 5:01:16 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116752

The Aga Khan changed champagne into water. ================================= Changing water (H20) or (H-OH) into wine containing mostly water itself and about 10-15% alcohol (C2H5-OH) or (CH3-CH2-OH) is quite easy, chemically speaking. Industrially, CH3-CH2-OH is prepared on a large scale by the "addition" of water H-OH to ethylene gas, CH2=CH2 :- H-OH + CH2=CH2 -----> CH3-CH2-OH (under high pressure and temperature conditions in presence of a catalyst.) This is a cheap process. Water is virtually free for the asking and and ethylene gas (also known as ethene) is obtained in large quantities from the thermal cracking (or heating or "thermolysis") of crude oil. Of course, as many folks know, even before the Prohibition, alcohol can be made by fermentation of grapes, oranges and apricots, bananas etc, and corn and a variety of grains and carbohydrates. By the way, the Aga Khan (a Moslem) of the 1950s reportedly told his followers who objected to his consuming champagne while he was residing in Paris, "When the champagne touches my lips, it turns into water! So, for me, drinking champagne is not haram." (HARAM is Arabic for what is equivalent to a mortal sin in Roman Catholicism, punishable by hell-fire.) Remarkable, isn't it? The man from Galilee turned water into wine (alcohol) but the Aga turned champagne (alcohol) into water!