Calcium carbide can be regarded as the salt of the very weak acid acetylene. The process which took place would accordingly be the hydrolysis of this salt. Acetylene has a relatively good solubility in water. It is therefore often recommended in the
literature that it be collected under a concentrated sodium chloride solution . This is not necessary here, as the quantities of the used reagents are sufficient for the formation of the required volume of gas.

The homologous series of the alkynes can be developed just as it was done for the alkanes.
Advanced courses: The good solubility and the acidic character of acetylene can be discussed. During the discussion the mesomeric effect and the polarizability of the triple bond can be discussed.

Learning objectives

• Acetylene can be prepared by the reaction of calcium carbide with water.
• Acetylene is an "unsaturated" and therefore relatively reactive hydrocarbon, which belongs to the alkyne group.

Benefits

• Easy teaching and efficient learning by using interactive experimentation PHYWE-Software
• Experiment is part of a complete solution set with experiments for the topic Organic Chemistry matched with international curriculum: all topics are covered