Arrange water, ethanol and phenol in increasing order of acidity and give reason for your answer.


The phenoxide ion obtained after the removal of a proton is resonance stabilised as follows

Whereas, the ethoxide ion obtained after the removal of a proton is not stabilised destabilised due to + I effect  of —C2H5 group. Therefore, phenol is a stronger acid than ethanol. + I effect of CH3-CH2 group increase the electron density on O—H bond in
ethanol. As the electron density on the O—H bond of ethanol is more than that of water. So, ethanol is a weaker acid than water. Thus, the increasing order of acidity is

                                  ethanol < water < phenol