Answer:
Sodium being a reducing metal evolves hydrogen from ethyl alcohol which is slightly acidic in nature
\[\underset{\text{Ethyl}\,\,\text{alcohol}}{\mathop{2{{C}_{2}}{{H}_{5}}OH}}\,+2Na\,\,\,\,\xrightarrow{\,}\,\,\,\,\,\underset{\text{Sod}\text{.}\,\text{ethoxide}}{\mathop{2{{C}_{2}}{{H}_{5}}ONa}}\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,+\,{{H}_{2}}\]
But diethyl ether\[({{C}_{2}}{{H}_{5}}-O-{{C}_{2}}{{H}_{5}})\] has no such hydrogen atom attached to the oxygen atom. It, therefore, does not react with sodium. As a result, the metal can be used to remove moisture from ether since it has a strong affinity for it but is not in a position to make ethyl alcohol dry.
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