But soon potatoes got too scarce to be
used up in this fashion, so the Germans turned to calcium carbide as a
source of acetone and before the war ended they had a factory capable of
manufacturing 2000 tons of methyl rubber a year. This shows the
advantage of having several strings to a bow.
The reason why acetylene is such an active and acquisitive thing the
chemist explains, or rather expresses, by picturing its structure in
this shape:
H-C[triple bond]C-H
Now the carbon atoms are holding each other's hands because they have
nothing else to do. There are no other elements around to hitch on to.
But the two carbons of acetylene readily loosen up and keeping the
connection between them by a single bond reach out in this fashion with
their two disengaged arms and grab whatever alien atoms happen to be in
the vicinity:
| |
H-C-C-H
| |
Carbon atoms belong to the quadrumani like the monkeys, so they are
peculiarly fitted to forming chains and rings. This accounts for the
variety and complexity of the carbon compounds.
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