The mechanism of hydration of ethene to form ethanol involves three steps.
Step 1:Protonation of ethene to form carbocation by electrophilic attack of H3O+:H20+H+\(\rightarrow\)H3O+
Step 2:Nucleophilic attack of water on carbocation:
Step 3:Deprotonation to form ethanol:
The reaction
suggests that phenol is :