The New Student's Reference Work/Acetylene
Acetylene (a-sĕt′ĭ-lēn) (C2 H2), a gas, slightly lighter than air, which is extensively used for illumination. It burns with a brilliant, white flame, which is smoky, except when specially constructed burners are used. It is usually prepared by the action of water upon a calcium carbide, a material made by exposing a mixture of limestone and coke to a very high heat in the electric furnace. With air, acetylene gives explosive mixtures, and when under pressures of two or three atmospheres, or more, it is powerfully explosive by itself. The pure gas is said to be odorless and non-poisonous, but, as usually made, it contains small quantities of strong-smelling and somewhat poisonous gases. Acetylene gas is widely used in villages and country houses not served by ordinary gas systems, consumers installing necessary apparatus and generating their own gas.