Give reasons for the following:
i) Phenol is more acidic than ethanol
ii) Boiling point of ethanol is higher in comparison to methoxymethane
iii) 
on reaction with HI gives 
and 
as the main products not 
and 
i) Phenol is more acidic than ethanol is due to the phenomenon known as resonation which stabilises the formation of phenoxide ion. While the ethoxide or ethanol both are not stable thus, formed due to resonance thereby making ethanol a weak acid than phenol.
ii) Boiling point of ethanol is higher in comparison to methoxymethane. It is due to the fact that hydrogen bonding present in alcohol imparts high boiling point. Therefore, ethanol requires more energy to break the bonds whereas methoxymethane does not require much energy to dissociate. Thus, methoxymethane has lower boiling point than alcohol.
iii) 
on reaction with HI gives 
and 
as the main products not 
and 
. This is because in the case of unsymmetric ethers follows 
mechanism of reaction. Thus, the more stable the carbocation formed, the more it will react to the iodide ion of HI. Therefore, it forms tertiary carbocation which is comparatively more stable than 
and 
, so, it forms 
and 
.
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