File:Calcium_carbide_formula.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Calcium carbide is a chemical compound made from calcium and carbon that has a grayish color and reacts with water to produce a flammable gas called acetylene. It has been historically important for producing acetylene gas, which was once widely used for lighting and welding before electric power became common.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Chemical data
- Formula
- C2Ca
- Molecular weight
- 64.1 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- calcium acetylide
- SMILES
- [C-]#[C-].[Ca+2]
- InChIKey
- UIXRSLJINYRGFQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N
- Polar surface area
- 0 Ų
- H-bond donors
- 0
- H-bond acceptors
- 2
- Formal charge
- 0
via PubChem
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Calcium carbide, also known as calcium acetylide, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2. Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide.
The pure material is colorless, while pieces of technical-grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of about 80–85% of CaC2 (the rest is CaO (calcium oxide), Ca3P2 (calcium phosphide), CaS (calcium sulfide), Ca3N2 (calcium nitride), SiC (silicon carbide), C (carbon), etc.). In the presence of trace moisture, technical-grade calcium carbide emits an unpleasant odor reminiscent of garlic.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “calcium carbide” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.