calcium carbide

noun

a grayish-black, lumpy, crystalline powder, CaC 2 , usually derived from coke or anthracite by reaction with limestone or quicklime: used chiefly for the generation of acetylene, which it yields upon decomposing in water.

calcium carbide

a grey salt of calcium used in the production of acetylene (by its reaction with water) and calcium cyanamide. Formula: CaC 2 Sometimes shortened tocarbide

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First recorded in 1885–90

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It was shown to be calcium carbide, a compound of calcium and carbon, formed by the action of the carbon on the calcium oxide.

With the development of the modern electric furnace the possibility of calcium carbide as a commercial product became known.

Yet these two substances are forced into combination in the manufacture of calcium carbide.

So a lump of calcium carbide, with which many readers are familiar, has vast stores of heat locked up within it.

Barium carbide, BaC2, is prepared by a method similar to that in use for the preparation of calcium carbide (see Acetylene).

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