Why is phenol stronger acid than the alcohols ? Explain in detail.

Explanation

Phenols are more acidic than alcohols because of resonance. Phenol gives phenate ions with release of `H^(+)` ions as given:

The various resonating structures of phenol and phenate ion are shown as below:

Presence of partial positive charge and negative charge on phenol makes it less stable as compared to phenate ion because of charge separation. Hence, phenol changes to more stable phenate ion by the release of `H^(+)` ions and is acidic in nature.
There is no resonance in alcohols or alkoxides ions. Alcohols by giving `H^(+)` ions destablises itself. So they do not dissociate to give alkoxide ion and `H^(+)` ions easily. Thus, phenols are more acidic in nature than alcohols.