Calcium Carbide: Lime and Coke Fused in the Electric Furnace

Above 3000° in the electric arc, lime and coke fuse: carbon takes the oxygen from the lime as carbon monoxide and the calcium joins the rest of the carbon as calcium carbide. Thorpe (1912) gives 100 parts of lime to 70 of carbon, and the ingot furnace in which the arc is struck in the charge and the upper electrode is raised as the carbide builds up. The furnace gives off carbon monoxide; the carbide gives acetylene with water, so keep it dry. The picture: calcium carbide (Wikimedia Commons).