itsallgoodjames
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Anyone in Canada have ~100g of calcium carbide they would be willing to sell?
Pretty much what the title says. I can't seem to find small quantities of calcium carbide, and I don't know what I'd do with 10kg of it. So I was
wondering if anyone had around 100g that they would be willing to sell.
Thanks!
Nuclear physics is neat. It's a shame it's so regulated...
Now that I think about it, that's probably a good thing. Still annoying though.
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B(a)P
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Can you buy from this seller? I can confirm their calcium carbide is of good quality.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333510730733
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itsallgoodjames
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Oh, thanks. for some reason it wasn't showing on canadian ebay when I searched for it initially. I'm going to order some. Even with shipping from
the UK, it's still the cheapest one. Thanks
Nuclear physics is neat. It's a shame it's so regulated...
Now that I think about it, that's probably a good thing. Still annoying though.
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B(a)P
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No problem, it is the same for me in Australia.
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Herr Haber
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Okay... Enough of this shit. I cant let you guys pay that much forever.
I pay ten time less and just have to go pick it up. The carbide I get is tech grade for carbide lamps (light). That should be good enough for most
uses.
I'll get in contact with the association I worked with and fill my HDPE barrel then open a thread on SM for anyone needing CaC2.
Just gave a call for 5 or 10 kilograms. Price is 30 Euros /5kg. I'll let you know but I dont think I'll get it while we're on lockdown...
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Herr Haber
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I guess mine doesnt look worst than that guy in the UK.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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MadHatter
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Calcium Carbide
Herr Haber,
The CaC2 in your picture looks exactly like
what I bought from ChemSavers some years ago.
To people who haven't seen something like this
before expect CaC2 to look like a bunch of gravel.
That's my impression of its appearance.
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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B(a)P
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Thank you Herr Haber, that is a very generous offer and I will most certainly take you up on it once once you are able to source some. Your
CaC2 looks very similar to what I have previously purchased.
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Herr Haber
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I've seen it looking clearer / grayer from lab photos but never actually handled "lab grade" CaC2.
In the above picture is the stuff we get by drums / pallets and even a container or two more than 10 years ago when it looked as if LED lighting was
going to make carbide lamps a thing of the past.
That's a 25 or 30 liters barrel and you can see my toes at the bottom corner if you want a reference for size. It's big gravel 
The biggest problem I'll have when shipping will be to find wide mouth containers. When caving I use a wide mouth Nalgene bottle to keep my spare
carbide. I always have to pick small pieces from the barrel. Breaking big chunks is really hard and makes a lot of smelly powder.
It'd be nice to help people with this. There are always a couple of requests every year and it really annoys me to see the prices you're paying.
Geez, if someone needs 100 grams I'll just ask for shipping and handling.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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DraconicAcid
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We buy lab grade calcium carbide for undergrad experiments, and it looks exactly the same as that, although our lumps are bit smaller (and tend to
get even smaller as time goes by, and air seeps into the container. When it's all a powder, we throw it out and buy a new jar).
Please remember: "Filtrate" is not a verb.
Write up your lab reports the way your instructor wants them, not the way your ex-instructor wants them.
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Herr Haber
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We keep the powder, you've noticed the lumps get smaller if you open the container again and again. That's why I have two smaller ones and the Nalgene
bottle. I thought of putting a couple of those HDPE shipping balloons inside so there would be less air.
The powder's still usefull to kickstart the reaction because of it's surface area even though it's degraded. My main problem is it's stench. I fill
lamps, containers before going to the shower and my hands still smell when I get out...
I never tried to figure what other gasses could come out of this technical grade calcium carbide (H2S certainly) but it's probably nothing you can get
rid off with a couple of wash bottles.
More interestingly, one of my fellow hobbyist, also happening to be an engineer in nuclear safety (meaning: I tend to listen to him) one time handed
me a lump of metal he fished out of the CaO / CaOH mix that's left at the end. He told me it was Arsenic. I lost it, keep finding it from time to time
but should really test to see what it is. Arsenic is indeed used in the manufacture of CaC2 !
Most people keep the waste and dump it in the toilet areas of caves and quarries. Some people use it for construction ! And of course, you can always
keep a big rock that became smaller with the added bonus that it'll serve as a dessicant inside the lamp until next use.
800 grams last around 24 hours in a lamp with a 21L/h burner at full burn more with a 14L. Less, when we fill a generator, tubing and 56 liter
burners to light up events !
Collecting old mining lamps from around the world is another of my hobbies. Mostly open flames for quarries, not coal mines. I never did have to use
glassware when producing C2H2
Next on my list: A Titanium carbide lamp from Russia.
Interestingly, there are quite a few sciency stories about lamps and burners. I would never thought that 100 - 120 years ago the engineers designing
the burners were not only looking for a better light, but for a purer flame with less soot and byproducts. I found some reading about burner designs
where they would try to get the flame as far as possible from the burner itself to avoid polymerization of C2H2 into C6H6 !
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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