Calcium Carbide is Kinda Strange

[@Julzaa]

The mining lamp is quite amazing

[@philip5940]

And before too long , the invention of electric light globe saw Union Carbide move into the manufacture of batteries alongside Ca2C for electric lamps .

[@newbleppmore7855]

wouldn't the carbide light be easier than a big battery and bulb that would probably wouldn't be as bright@@philip5940

[@aronbucca6777]

Until you ignite the dynamite

[@bmo14lax]

Love simple old engineering.

[@clayhancock6341]

Until you hit a pocket of flammable gas.

[@dandankovsky7968]

Oh, boys from my neighborhood used to make Molotov cocktails with calcium carbide. Not for violence, just for “fun.” Weird post Soviet kids we were.

[@-iloveyou]

filling up empty beer can or hole in a tennis ball with gas then take an hour to try to put it out with the hose 😊 not as cool as calcium carbide though

[@Trenty_Boi]

How old are you now??

[@-iloveyou]

@@Trenty_Boi depends on who’s asking^^

[@thinking6548]

​@@-iloveyou what does that mean? I'm curious

[@-iloveyou]

@@thinking6548 makes me feel old! 😂 If it was a kid asking on YT, i would be hesitant to give the little homies ideas lol 35 btw

[@scottmatznick3140]

That lamp is a bug-out bag essential, and i need one ASAP.

[@zinobi]

I'd go with a kerosene lamp as they are more efficient and agnostic about their fuel.

[@scottmatznick3140]

@@zinobi yeah but this one is far cooler lol

[@phobos1963]

@@scottmatznick3140you don’t want acetylene to mix with air in stoechiometric amounts because you forgot to cut the water off lol

[@1islam1]

​@@zinobi 🔴 What Is Islam? 🔴 Islam is not just another religion. 🔵 It is the same message preached by Moses, Jesus and Abraham. 🔴 Islam literally means ‘submission to God’ and it teaches us to have a direct relationship with God. 🔵 It reminds us that since God created us, no one should be worshipped except God alone. 🔴 It also teaches that God is nothing like a human being or like anything that we can imagine. 🌍 The concept of God is summarized in the Quran as: 📖 { “Say, He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.”} (Quran 112:1-4) 📚 🔴 Becoming a Muslim is not turning your back to Jesus. 🔵 Rather it’s going back to the original teachings of Jesus and obeying him. More ....

[@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds]

Yeah, where are you going to get a steady supply of calcium carbide? An oil lamp can burn anything made of hydrocarbons.

[@frandurrieu6477]

I understood miner as minor. Funnily enough, it's still correct

[@capertillar4634]

haha child labor

[@liamoshea1858]

I was thinking just that very thing

[@draconian_dragons6588]

Kids nowadays love playing minecraft, they yearn for the mines

[@dsandoval9396]

Exactly. I thought he was referring to how children used to work industrial jobs way back when. 😂

[@petepan9666]

Hehe I see what you did there.

[@AlabamaTrumpeter]

Cavers were using carbide lamps as recently as the 90s. Batteries back then were way too heavy and didn’t hold enough charge for multiple-day expeditions. My dad was a speleologist and he didn’t switch to batteries until the ‘00s.

[@Mr.PoopyButtholeOfficial]

Separate from your scenario, In mining expeditions (like tunneling for trains or mining coal or ore as opposed to exploring and searching for undiscovered or possibly extinct animals which sounds amazing by the way what a job your dad had.) I think they quit using them much further back than the 90s. Due to the nature of mining exposing natural gas and exploding, that stopped the use of open flame lanterns.

[@LonePear]

I think they still sell them from well known climbing/outdoor brands. But yeah, much less used now due to better batteries.

[@nick11crafter]

I've gone caving with a carbide lamp actually, the glow it gives the stone is really nice and I kinda like it more than my usual headlamps. They still make their rounds in antique sales and caving conventions.

[@scottdavis9442]

I used my lamp caving until recently, it’s hard to come by carbide now.

[@pizzadude6615]

I'm actually using one right now to read the comments in print form cause I'm old timey like that.

[@NickCBax]

There was some media where a coal miner was peeing into his lamp to try to get it working, and now that makes sense.

[@acllhes]

Lmao how long have you had this mystery in your head?

[@NickCBax]

@@acllhesdecade or two?

[@acllhes]

@@NickCBax mad funny

[@polykoma]

lmao xD chad@@NickCBax

[@ottopartz1]

I'm an older guy, but I remember asking my grandpa about a scar that he had on his forearm and being told that it was from the carbide headlight on his first motorcycle and him showing me pictures of the many motorcycles he rode and raced on the local track back when it was dirt. Every time I see these old lights I think of him.

[@brukujinbrokujin7802]

Fun fact. Exposure of this gas on young bananas can speed up its rippening. 24 hour exposure can make your average "still green banana" taste like yellow bananas

[@24dasr]

I think you mean ethylene. Oranges also produce it, so if you place orange and bananas together, the oranges would ripen faster than normal

[@bromisovalum8417]

@@24dasr No acetylene works just as well, and so does propylene (another welding gas). They actually use carbide in horticulture for this, to make fruits ripen faster, but its use as is is forbidden, because the carbide isn't pure and has contaminants that produce small amounts of phosphine and arsine, which are poisonous abnd could be absorbed by the fruits. It is however possible to filter these out using simple washing bottles in series with the carbide generator, in the same way they produce chemically pure acetylene in the lab.

[@markarca6360]

As well as mangoes, too! 🥭🥭🥭🥭

[@chimkinnugget499]

as a minor in the 19th century, i can confirm thta we used to do that

[@patriciaquinn6048]

Miner*

[@Havron]

​@@patriciaquinn6048Naw, bro is just saying that they are 141+ years old.

[@seanmessick9330]

@@patriciaquinn6048what’s the difference? 19th century child labor laws were nonexistent

[@dcvariousvids8082]

Think that would be 20th century. But I know what you mean.

[@frostyvoid827]

@@patriciaquinn6048back then, they were the same thing

[@congki5327]

Carbide lamps were also once used as car headlamps.

[@albertmagician8613]

And bicycle lamp in the Netherlands.

[@brandonsizemore3619]

We still have my grandpa's old carbide light and "helmet" which was just a thin cap to hold the light. He mined untold amounts of eastern KY coal on his hands and knees when they used hand tools and mules.

[@StrangeTerror]

My back was hurting enough before I read this. Come on man.

[@williamwertman24]

Same here. I have some from my great grandfather. They mined in the Lehighton pa area. Actually the Tuscarora coal mine near tamaqua. Would have been around 1900. They passed in the 60s.

[@Lillian2167]

The bit with the pumpkin was pretty cool ngl X''D

[@dreydantrovirr8136]

I need to try it! Next Halloween is going to be a bit risky at my place

[@PaulMurrayCanberra]

Calcuim = "lime" in old-timey speak. Calcuim carbide/acetylene lamps = "limelight".

[@user-jk5tz2ot5s]

I was little confused with lime light and after reading your post, I remember now it used to be called Lime. Limestone light :)

[@thesentientneuron6550]

Not quite, the limelights involved a blowtorch flame pointed at a limestone block and the bright glow as a result were the “limelights”. The Calcium in these miner’s lamps never leaves the reaction vessel. It stays there and is converted to Calcium Hydroxide while releasing acetylene gas which glows brightly because of the fine carbon particles formed by its incomplete combustion. An overpowered candle of sorts, yes, but not a limelight.

[@shengweizhang9723]

​@@thesentientneuron6550I looked it up and you are right👍

[@VakoDemuro-wc3yw]

​@thesentientneuron6550 which one of those two, limelight and acetylene light shines brighter ?

[@thesentientneuron6550]

@@VakoDemuro-wc3yw Good question, but I really have no idea. It probably depends on a lot of factors that could skew either towards the winning side. Advantage with the limelight is that the blowtorch doesn’t have to run smoky (unlike an acetylene lamp) and the source of the light doesn’t change in shape much once up to temperature so it gives you a uniform light source which is kinda hard to do with the flickery flame of acetylene. You can’t easily make a limelight small, and you have more safety considerations if you want to make an acetylene lamp big.

[@thatjabberwonky6261]

This reminds me of my old chemistry teacher, he was a retired research scientist who got bored in retirement and figured he'd help teach the next generation chemistry, he once brought out one of these lamps and a while bunch of pics of a younger him back when he would go spelunking and was so excited to show us how his lamp worked and why 😂

[@jacksonhodge4638]

My Pawpaw and Uncle used those old carbide headlamps for rabbit hunting. Uncle normally just used a flashlight for fear of opening a window in his skull.

[@inc0mingr0flc0pter]

If you showed that lamp to an alchemist, they would have thought you’d mastered the art.

[@SilntObsvr]

I had a brass carbide lamp when I was in high school. It throws a better light than the incandescent 6V lanterns we could get back in the 1970s. Wider illumination angle, more even brightness, and quite a bit brighter. The lamp also weighed a lot less, though you had to carry water as well as carbide to refill it if you needed more than a couple hours of light. Unfortunately, if you don't clean the bottom chamber pretty promptly after using the lamp, the calcium hydroxide that forms in the bottom will eat the solder that holds the brass parts together. If you shake it, the felt that filters the gas will get wet and the gas can't get out, and there's no quick way to dry it out (especially in a wet, muddy cave). There are good reasons these lamps aren't used much any more -- but until white, high brightness LEDs and lithium batteries, they were overall the best primary light source for spelunking. And you can put two or three of them close together and boil water for soup or coffee...

[@SCPKing1835]

In Croatia we call this "garbure", and we use them to launch pots and barrels 20+ meters into the air

[@jeremymullis8294]

Sounds fun

[@orlovszki]

Oh yeah. And fishing too. We called it carbid in Romania

[@bromisovalum8417]

We used to do the same here in Belgium in the old days in rural areas, to celebrate weddings. Also farmers used a similar device that produced small explosions on a regular basis (acetylene under light pressure), to chase away starlings from their freshly sown fields.

[@forestwebsolutionsofficial]

Here in the Netherlands too!

[@RotaryMarx]

In the Netherlands, on oldyears day or the 31st of December, we get to light fireworks and we have milk jugs with a tiny hole on the bottem that we put the carbide in with some water and we plug it with the lid or a football or so called “soccer ball”

[@drQ11235]

Old year's Day, TIL :)

[@LMvdB02]

​@@drQ11235Yeah that's a literal translation of our word for December 31st. No idea why there's no English version.

[@HaveAGoodDayFk.U]

Why do you do that?

[@tp3u]

@@HaveAGoodDayFk.Uit sends the ball into the exosphere

[@AtlasNL]

@@HaveAGoodDayFk.UBecause big, loud boom is fun. Same reason people like shooting guns recreationally if that makes it more relatable for yanks.

[@ligmuhnugs]

I saw an old race har that had a headlight system using this. There was a large chunk of calcium carbide that you adjust a drip flow onto. Then the gas could be hand pumped to add orrssure and burn in the headlights.

[@dcvariousvids8082]

Also used by cavers until reliable waterproof battery headlamps became widely available. And miners into the 20th century.

[@randallradke1279]

More than welding we use acetylene for cutting mild steel. You should make a short about the sceince behing Oxy-acetylene torch cutting. Most think it melts it, but you actually combust/rust it.

[@vikkipink1288]

I remember doing experiments in school on rare occasions and not ever really understanding what’s going on. I’ve always kind of struggled with certain areas of science. It was very difficult for me to visualize a lot of the stuff they would talk about and during the experiments I’m not sure why they often just didn’t make any sense to me. Your ability to explain what’s going on in really understandable ways and how you often give further examples that make sense makes it to where I really understand these videos and I’ve learned so much. I bet it would have been a blast to have you as teacher. I feel like too often times in school no one cared if we actually understood anything. They just wanted us to be able to memorize the information long enough to regurgitate it on a test. I wish more classrooms felt like this channel or at the very least I hope teachers are able to utilize your videos to help others learn. Thanks for the wonderful work! 😊

[@randallsmerna384]

In the presence of a flame, acetylene reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water. 2 H2C2 (g) + 5 O2 (g) --> 4 CO2 (g) + 2 H2O (g)

[@DrewskisBrews]

The yellow, sooty flame indicates that other reactions are happening. I'm still in doubt regarding "no CO"

[@SectorSos]

I'm a US Army retired combat veteran, with multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Primarily in Afghanistan, insurgents and ACM (Anti-Coalition Militia) networks, such as Haqqani, used Carbide to make homemade anti-personnel mines, out of the metal tins. It wasn't powerful enough to kill a person, but injuries would be significant enough, that an injured soldier needs to be evacuated, which basically ties up 4 or more soldiers to do so. Making an entire unit, less effective. So yeah, Carbide can be used in many different applicants and not just by chemistry teachers to carve out pumpkins. It can also carve out body parts as well.

[@ausieking]

“Danger rocks” 💀

[@martyshannon7542]

You forgot Lighting Homes. My Great Grandparents had this in their house on the Farm.

[@daewooparts]

It's literally "Pop Rocks" when mixed with water 💧 💥

[@noassociation85]

Gonna need that lamp mate

[@Milo_Estobar]

"You need lamp oil? All you need is just some rubies"

[@dionkirkland9669]

Down at Weapons Battalion at MCRD Parris Island, I've seen this used to blacken iron sights on weapons down at the small bore range.

[@silvertounge2099]

i too was a child in the late 19th century and loved these prehistoric flashlights

[@jm8361]

It is also called "lime light" and used in spit lights. So if you have heard the phase "in the lime light" this is what they are refering to.

[@danpedersen55]

Thank you, for the enlightenment. 👍💡 I crave these tidbits of knowledge 🙂

[@Telogor]

Limelights work by heating calcium oxide (not calcium carbide) with a HHO torch. It's not the same thing.

[@grahamwaldo331]

Acetylene is very rarely used for welding or hardening steel. In most places, it’s used almost exclusively for heating and bending, and cutting. It is still used for brazing, though even that is being slowly replaced with welding processes.

[@mikehunt8968]

Oxy-acetalene IS a welding process! 🙄

[@grahamwaldo331]

@@mikehunt8968I didn’t say that it isn’t. I just said that it’s almost never used anymore.

[@BS-ys8zn]

we call oxy-acet the 'blue wrench'.

[@mikehunt8968]

@@grahamwaldo331 It's still the only welding process that you can use when electrical power is not available😉 I learned to gas weld 52 years ago at the age of 13, but I also have kit to do all the other types...and it's the best base skill for learning the other types, the nearest to it is TIG, very similar skills required... BTW, you DID say it was being replaced by welding processes, which grammatically says that it was not a welding process...🙄 Dad you included the word 'other' it would have been correct...😉

[@daphneraven6745]

My father spent a lot of time welding throughout my entire childhood, and probably beyond. He always kept oxygen and acetylene on hand; One of the first safety things he taught his little girls was to turn off the welding machine as we entered the garage, if he were welding. He worried about us getting a flash, And ending up with problems with headaches or vision problems.

[@garytodd5605]

When i was a kid there was an old mechanic/ welder in my home town. He had an acetelene generator. Big old tank with water in it on wheels that had a small tank on top that would dribble the calcium carbide into the water. It would blow up and catch his clothing on fire on occassion. He had this pond that wasnt much more than a mud hole that had junk parts throun in it. He had a path to this pond to where he could go jump in it when he cought his clothing on fire. He loved to phesant hunt. If he had your car tore apart when it came hunting season. He would drop working on it drive one of his many jeepster wagons to nebraska from illinois and hunt for at least 2 weeks before he came back and finished working on your car. Was an amazing old man that lived like he didn't have a dime. But his wife always drove new caddilacs.

[@John-lz2bs]

I love that it just labled "danger rocks" XD

[@michaelcatalanottohandyman]

Love your videos. One of these days sooner than later I hope, I’ll break out the lab coat and do an experiment.

[@patrickdevlin3164]

This is also where the term "limelight" originated from.

[@kevenc4843]

In 1970 my dad sold these carbide lights in his hardware store. Funny, it wasn't a mining area.... just a farming village.

[@KimmyR3]

their locally called Kalburo/Calburo around here. Used to force the 'ripening' of mangoes - which isn't really great because the mango might be yellow, but it still taste sour at times. And of course for making those christmas and new year cannons/blasters :)

[@cryeredd7563]

Engineers today still use it for soil density testing in remote locations where they don't want to lug around a generator and a microwave.

[@Yanrogue]

love when these shorts pop up in my feed

[@PirouettingFox]

The fact about how miners would use it & how it’s brighter than a candle is so cool

[@glenh4569]

They emit a very black sooty smoke which is used in pistol competitions to "blacken" the sights to make them standout against the black target and to reduce sun glare off of the metal sights.

[@CristiNeagu]

My dad made a carbide lamp decades ago. It looked like a steel bottle with a long, thin neck, sort of like a pencil, with a very fine nozzle at the top. The bottom of the bottle was threaded onto the body. The carbide would go inside, and the whole bottle would sit in water. You'd regulate how much gas was being generated by how tight the bottom was screwed on, which determined how much water would infiltrate through the screw.

[@jelkehuisman]

And here in the Netherlands, it is used to make you feel like you live in a warzone around newyears. Put it in a large milk can, add water, put the lid on and light the gas. Makes a massive bang. Would be fine if they did it at regulatiom distance from the houses, not in our neighbor's backyard.

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

I'm in love with this mining lamp.

[@tonyztyles]

Bro just did the ultimate pumpkin carving speed run 🏃‍♂️ 🤣

[@davesy6969]

Eventually Sir Humphrey Davy invented the safety lamp which didn't cause underground explosions from flammable gases or coal dust.

[@coreycoffell6219]

That Humphrey was one smart teacher.

[@kristieolinger1265]

Wow, I finally saw a video that I felt wasn't a waste of time. Thank you, chemistry teacher.

[@hooknbullet]

I looked at a house in South Carolina that was THE house at one time. It had a giant acetylene generator in back to fuel the lighting system.

[@mattbibeault843]

I used one of these on extended backpacking trips in the 80's way better than a flashlight

[@christopherhughes8402]

My older cousins made “fireworks” out on the farm, decades ago, with carbide. Growing up gen X was freakin awesome!

[@cuntdork]

"Danger rocks" haha. Love it

[@Wanderingpyro]

That mining lamp is responsible for many explosions.

[@Fayanora]

"Danger rocks" I love that label

[@awalkthroughtorah6897]

My grandpa still had his helmet and some carbide. The carbide didn’t work, but my sister got to use the helmet for her class presentation.

[@barrywilliams991]

I used carbide mining lamps in the 70's while caving.

[@daninb8939]

My grampa (may his soul rest in peace) used to have one of this and I don't think I ever asked him how it worked. Thank you for letting me know!

[@jameshicks1367]

We used to do a lot of caving and always carried carbide mining lamps as a backup. You never know what's going to happen when you're inside a cave. As long as you got a carbide lamp a little carbide and some spit you're good to go.

[@Gunbudder]

Most Army Surplus stores in the US sell carbide too because the army used to use those lamps

[@p1nkfreud]

Wow that mining lamp…can’t believe I never heard of it…so cool!

[@jessehansen10]

I wouldn’t mind having that old lamp. That’s pretty cool.

[@DRew2KRupt]

You got to admire the Ingenuity from way back when

[@Thekidfromcalifornia2.0]

That lamp is the coolest of them all

[@ruthmoreton6975]

Early motorcycle lights used carbide lamps.

[@IFORBIDANYDATACOLLECTIONTOALL]

Now this is valuable information! I love the lamp idea

[@BringMeThatHorizon2000]

The mining lamp is really cool until you remember you in a coal mine

[@daphneraven6745]

Or an iron or mine

[@francisvantuyle]

I had a carbide Cannon as a child. It was all cast Bronze and weighed 25lb. It was a lot of fun.

[@Mr.Isquierdo]

That mining lamp is so cool!

[@robertstewart7150]

Dude that lamp is genius!

[@vipertwenty249]

I've used a carbide light for caving (spelunking if you're American). I gives a warm all round glow and has the advantage that you still have the peripheral vision you'd normally have rather than the very directional light an electric lamp has. Best ever though was canoeing at night in a snowstorm - really surreal like being inside one of those Christmas snowglobes you shake up.

[@masotandragon6244]

When he first tried lighting it on fire it sounded like the beginning of milkshakes.

[@lolly166541]

Miners but actually motorcycles and cars as well :) You can see a lot of pre 1930 motorcycles still running around with those lights on. A great example is the Zuendapp Z200 (earlier models)

[@Relentless2200]

The guy who Invented that is a genius

[@kingjellybean9795]

I have my great great grandpa's calcium carbide lamp from when he was a north east PA coal miner.

[@pharmdiddy5120]

So cool! Love you added in the mining lamp history 👍

[@williamwertman24]

My family has many miners from the past and I have their lamps from the 1880s to 1930 range. The carbide ones are neat, not to say the others they actually used were cool also.

[@ADoodGuy]

Meanwhile in the Philippines, people living in the provinces make fireworks using this chemical for the holiday celebrations. My grandparents used it when they sent mangoes over last Christmas, apparently to help with the ripening.

[@SeanPat1001]

Let’s not forget the carbide cannons. They were quite a popular thing when I was a kid back in the 1960s. A friend of mine had one and we would set it off from time to time. He also like pop rocks. I sense a theme there.😂

[@josephspears4049]

I used those lamps in the 80s when I went spelunking

[@orlovszki]

I had one lamp, back in the nineteenth century. Also using this for welding in the twentieth century. And for killing moles in the recent century.

[@MarcelAmschl]

Another great informative Video !! Many Thanks For Sharing Greetings from Lindau Bodensee Germany Bavaria 👍😎

[@SunChipss]

Those late 19th century minors were very creative

[@AlxndrHQ]

That mining lamp is pretty cool

[@CrankyOtter]

I used carbide headlamps spelunking in the late 20th century! Before LEDs, it took mega batteries to replace a small lump of carbide & water.

[@jegr3398]

Oh yeah, I got one of those mining lamps. It's pretty amazing how bright the acetylene flame is and how far the reflector throws the spot. It's as good as a modern flashlight.

[@amgguy4319]

"How cool is that?" It's super cool

[@darktemp223]

The mining lamp also lets you know if there is methane in the tunnels, too.

[@savagediy8077]

I would love to have one of those lamps!! So cool!

[@JohnGee123]

When I was a kid, we took a quart paint can, poked a small hole low on the side, throw in the carbide, then water (spit) and then put the top on a little tightly. Gave it a while and put a lit match to the hole. BANG! You had a 50s - 60s cannon!😊

[@AdamPutnam-ur8td]

Excellent pumpkin art :)

[@ewmlloyd]

Fun movie fact -- the Sandman pistols in the movie _Logan's Run_ (1976) used acetylene for the muzzle flash effects. Totally practical, and by all accounts, terrifying to use.

[@brucewinningham4959]

I have used Carbide Lamps for Cave Exploring but I still preferred Battery Operated Electric Lights.

[@aussiebird14]

My classmate in high school got a hold of a 50gal steel barrel and convinced our physics teacher to use some of his carbide supplies to launch the barrel in the football field for class, provided we did the calculations.

[@user-zh4vo1kw1z]

There's a new year's tradition in some regions here where you put some in a milk barrel then ignite it to blast away the cap. Works pretty good

[@cjp111]

Finally something I haven't seen before

[@KingPurpleV]

That lamp tickled my history pickle 😅

[@I3oLo]

As kids we have been playing with those bad boys. It actually used to be pretty popular in my country to play with carbide

[@Godzilla12546]

Dude blew up a pumpkin with a smile on his face as every mad scientist should >:3