system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why does alcohol sting cuts so much compared to water?
gpt
Alcohol kills live cells, and water does not. This is why alcohol based hand sanitizers exist, but washing your hands with water requires soap.

Your body doesn't like when things that kill it get inside, and sends pain to tell you to stop.

The reason why it doesn't burn on regular skin is that regular skin is not live, it's a protective coating of dead cells meant to protect the rest of the live cells from outside things.