Strontium Carbide, SrC₂

Strontium Carbide, SrC₂, may be obtained by the action of sugar charcoal on strontium oxide or strontium carbonate in the electric furnace. It forms a black mass with a brown-red crystalline fracture, and has a density of 3.19. It decomposes water with the formation of acetylene, and, in general, its chemical behaviour is similar to that of calcium carbide, but it is somewhat more reactive. When heated strongly in the electric furnace, strontium carbide will dissolve as much as 6 per cent, of carbon.