{"id":23519,"date":"2025-10-24T12:59:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=23519"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:39:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:09:37","slug":"what-is-calcium-carbide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-calcium-carbide\/","title":{"rendered":"Calcium Carbide"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Calcium Carbide Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 60 people, primarily children, were hospitalized in Bhopal following severe injuries sustained from the use of makeshift \u201ccalcium carbide guns\u201d during Diwali celebrations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Calcium Carbide<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a compound with the chemical formula <\/span><b>CaC2.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is commonly <\/span><b>referred to as \u2018masala\u2019 in fruit markets.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>grayish-black lump<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>crystalline powder<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a<\/span><b> garlic-like odor.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>manufactured by heating a lime and carbon mixture to 2000 to 2100\u00b0C <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(3632 to 3812\u00b0F) <\/span><b>in an electric arc furnace.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Calcium Carbide <\/b><b>Uses<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is primarily known for its use in the <\/span><b>production of acetylene gas <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">through hydrolysis.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calcium carbide <\/span><b>reacts vigorously with water to produce acetylene <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gas. <\/span><b>Acetylene <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a <\/span><b>colourless, odourless, extremely flammable<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gas.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is used as a <\/span><b>reducing agent <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and in <\/span><b>steel manufacturing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>metal cutting.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several countries use calcium carbide as an <\/span><b>artificial ripening agent.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Calcium Carbide <\/b><b>Health Impacts<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can cause serious health issues such as <\/span><b>dizziness, frequent thirst, irritation, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">weakness, difficulty in swallowing, <\/span><b>vomiting, skin ulcers,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, <\/span><b>acetylene gas<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is equally <\/span><b>hazardous <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to those handling it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are chances that <\/span><b>calcium carbide<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may come in direct contact with fruits during application and <\/span><b>leave residues of arsenic and phosphorus on fruits.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>banned under the <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955, and also under the <\/span><b>Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">made thereunder.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/madhya-pradesh\/over-60-land-in-bhopal-hospitals-due-to-use-of-dangerous-carbide-guns-on-deepavali\/article70193273.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calcium Carbide is a hazardous chemical used for acetylene production and fruit ripening. Its use can cause severe injuries, health risks, and is banned in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":69934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3375],"class_list":{"0":"post-23519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-calcium-carbide","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}