John, as I said, I would send this to the bright member of the Gaither clan. He works during his off college time in R&D Chemistry for Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. I guess the whole team got invloved with this: Here is the answer I suspected all along:
Dad,
If the question was,"How does the ethanol/moonshine 'catch' fire when
exposed to salt?", the response is: "By means of a match, lighter, flamming bush, or blow torch?"
Salt is only slightly soluble in ethanol and NaCl is an extremely stable crystalline structure which does not act as much of a catalyst for anything.
Neither NaCl nor ethanol contain any reactive groups, oxidizers or reducers. Nothing about the combination suggests a reaction of flammable proportions. I have discussed this with my coworkers (a building full of chemists and engineers is a nice resource) and we tested our hypothesis the old fashioned way with reagent grade (95%) ethanol and 99.8% pure NaCl. Upon combination in varying proportions nothing happened except the creation of a salt-alcohol slushy. When the combination was elevated to the flamming point of ethanol with a butane lighter, the mixture caught fire. The flame became more visible and more yellow at higher concentrations of ethanol,
suggesting that the relative absence of water and higher temperature might vaporize some of the sodium and ionize it in the combustion.
I hope this helps. I believe that the "catching of fire" is a bit of a legend. "Whoooeee! That Ole Man Johnson make a moonshine soooooo dang strong it'll bring fire right outta plain ol' salt." Or something to that effect. Though the hillbillies might have tested the purity by the color of a flame coming off of salt. You might look into the origins of the word "proof" and the old tests for alcohol content. No more time, love you Dad, Jess
So pardon me if my memory is a bit fuzzy on this. Could well have been a burn off. Since I was just 15 at the time. I can surley believe that yes it would make the booze burn more yellow. Now how does denatured ach, cause a fish skin to stiffen?
Dehydration, invasion and denaturing John. The alcohol invades the cells and because of it's propensity to attract and combine with water, the tissue dehydrates, the wall contracts, and the result is denser cellular matter, I think. It's been a long time for me too John, and believe me this is off the top of my head. I'd have to go back to my Biology notes to give you an exact answer. There are some things that you do for so long that you just accept the results as routine and forget the precise processes involved. I'll get back to you if you would like. I know that the answer is in the pile of rubble I like to call my archives.