Calcium carbide Wikipedia
Applications Production of acetylene. The reaction of calcium carbide with water, producing acetylene and calcium hydroxide, was discovered by Friedrich Wöhler in 1862.. CaC 2() + 2H 2 O → C 2 H 2 + Ca(OH) 2 (aq). This reaction was the basis of the industrial manufacture of acetylene, and is the major industrial use of calcium carbide.. Today acetylene is mainly manufactured by the partial ...