"Gary Dyrkacz" wrote in message
...
Probably because it's a little less volatile and so doesn't evaporate
before
you've wiped it off.

For the same reason it is used in industry because less of the vapour
escapes the containment or extraction system.


That would be my guesstimate although I can't give a good explanation
why this should be so. I'm no chemist. It is only one carbon atom
higher and that shouldn't affect the evaporation that much. Home use
solvent alcohols are mainly ethyl alcohol because they are cheap to
manufacture from fermentation or from raw stock (CO, H2).

Its not just the molecular weight that changes and effects the
evaporatoin, especially in small chain alcohols. There are both
molecular shape factors and hydrogen bonding changes that also
influence the evaporation/heat capacity.

I believe that in most short chain hydrates in the liquid form (water,
methane, alcohols, etc) it is the weak hydrogen bonds between molecules that
affect the evaporation most. Water would be wholly gaseous at room
temperature/standard pressure without this.