Barium carbide
Barium carbide is a chemical compound in the carbide family having the chemical formula. It consists of barium cations and acetylide anions.
Preparation
Barium carbide can be synthesized by several high-temperature reduction methods. An impure form of the compound is obtained by reducing powdered barium carbonate with metallic magnesium in the presence of carbon.Another laboratory-scale method involves the direct reduction of carbon dioxide with heated metallic barium at approximately 600 °C, producing barium carbide as an intermediate in studies of acetylene formation.
Barium carbide may also be prepared by heating a mixture of a barium amalgam and powdered carbon under a stream of hydrogen, which facilitates the removal of mercury and promotes carbide formation.
The pure compound is typically obtained by carbothermal reduction of barium oxide with carbon at elevated temperatures, a method analogous to the industrial preparation of other alkaline earth metal carbides.