Given above is the mechanism that I drew but my textbook puts it a bit differently. It says that the ethene is dissovled in the concentrated $\ce{H2SO4}$ to form ethyl hydrogen sulphate $\ce{CH3-CH2OSO3H}$ which when diluted with water reacts to form ethanol and the acid $$\ce{CH3CH2OSO3H + H-OH -> CH3CH2OH + H2SO4}$$ So which mechanism is true?
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1$\begingroup$ I think that the first mechanism occurs when a solution of sulphuric acid in water is reacted with ethene. The second mechanism occurs if you first add conc. H2SO4 to ethene, and then add water. I am not fully sure, though. I will answer if I get a reference to back my claim. $\endgroup$ – Shoubhik R Maiti Dec 3 '17 at 9:09
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At first I thought your mechanism was very comprehensive but upon closer inspection I think it has some flaws because in this reaction conc. sulphuric acid is used as a catalyst and it must be regenerated at the end and in the above mechanism only ethanol is generated.
This must be the mechanism shown in your book.
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1$\begingroup$ The sulphuric acid is indeed regenerated in the proposed mechanism, no? $\endgroup$ – Yoda Apr 3 '20 at 18:46