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View Full Version : Making acetylene gas


evilgecko
November 11th, 2004, 04:42 AM
I was just thinking about how to make acetylene gas. I know that calcium carbide reacts with water to form acetylene gas, but what if you can't obtain it. Make it. I heard somewhere that if you heat calcium oxide (quicklime) with coke (I'm guessing you could replace this with ground up charcoal) it produces calcium carbide. And if you dont have any quicklime, then you could thermally decompose calcium carbonate (limestone) by heating it strongly with a bit of charcoal to help it on its way. Could a possible source of calcium carbonate be chalk, or can you buy it in a place like a garden store?. The calcium carbide could then be reacted to form acetylene gas, which could be used from making acetylene bombs to silver acetylene. Only problem is that I've never tried this. Has anyone got some advice on this method? And don't say just get it from a gas welder cause I ain't got one.

Thanks. :cool:

metafractal
December 10th, 2004, 08:49 AM
CocaineROCKS, have you tried this method of producing acetylene gas practically? I find that chemicals usually work better than insults in alkyne reactions, but I could be wrong.

Moving on... I think that unfortunately this reaction (quicklime and coke) is one suited to an industrial scale, requiring hot furnaces, long durations and other conditions hard to replicate in a lab. Unfortunately, hydrocarbons tend to be difficult to produce on a small scale. Whilst possible, you would be better spending your time finding a source of calcium carbide or pressurized acetylene gas. To state the obvious, acetylene can be bought from a welding supply.

zerok
December 10th, 2004, 11:57 AM
Carbid can be made with quicklime and coke. You just need an arc furnace :( see: http://arcmelt.velp.info

Buying this is cheaper and easier.