Description
The main use for
calcium carbide is in
the production of the flammable gas
acetylene.
When any grade of
calcium carbide
comes into contact with water, a chemical reaction immediately
begins, which yields two new compounds, one of which is acetylene,
a very useful flammable gas. This is the principal modern use of
calcium carbide. Countries such as China
use large amounts of acetylene as an industrial fuel, mainly
because it is cheaper to make and use domestically than to import
petroleum for the same purpose. Oddly enough, acetylene can also be
used to speed up the ripening of fruit, in the same way that
ethylene is used.
Another use of
calcium carbide is in the
making of some types of fertilizer.
Calcium cyanamide
is one of these, and is produced when
calcium
carbide reacts with
nitrogen at high temperatures. Some
steelmaking processes also require the use of
calcium
One of the older uses of this material was in a device called
the
carbide lamp. This was a
type of lamp that took advantage of the fact that water and
calcium carbide react together to make
acetylene. These lamps were used in mines beginning in the late
*9th century. The open flame produced by the burning acetylene in
the lamp ruled out its use in
coal mines, but miners of tin,
copper and slate were able to benefit from
its use.
