CHAPTER VIII
CARBON AND THE HYDROCARBONS
It is necessary to clearly distinguish between the two closely-allied terms, charcoal and carbon. Charcoal is well known to everybody, although it is no easy matter to obtain it in a chemically pure state. Pure charcoal is a simple, insoluble, infusible, combustible substance produced by heating organic matter, and has the familiar aspect of a black mass, devoid of any crystalline structure, and completely insoluble. Charcoal is a substance possessing a peculiar combination of physical and chemical properties. This substance, whilst in a state of ignition, combines directly with oxygen; in organic substances it is found in combination with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur. But in all these combinations there is no real charcoal, as in the same sense there is no ice in steam. What is found in such combinations is termed ‘carbon’—that is, an element common to charcoal, to those substances which can be formed from it, and also to those substances from which it can be obtained. Carbon may take the form of charcoal, but occurs also as diamond and as graphite. Truly no other element has such a wide terminology. Oxygen is always called ‘oxygen,’ whether it is in a free gaseous state, or in the form of ozone, or oxygen in water, or in nitric acid or in carbonic anhydride. But here there is some confusion. In water it is evident that there is no oxygen in a gaseous form, such as can be obtained in a free state, no oxygen in the form of ozone, but a substance which is capable of producing both oxygen, ozone, and water. As an element, oxygen possesses a known chemical individuality, and an influence on the properties of those combinations into which it enters. Hydrogen gas is a substance which reacts with difficulty, but the element hydrogen represents in its combinations an easily displaceable component part. Carbon may be considered as an atom of carbon matter, and charcoal as a collection of such atoms forming a whole substance, or mass of molecules of the substance. The accepted atomic weight of carbon is 12, because that is the least quantity of carbon which enters into combination in molecules of its compounds; but the weight of the molecules of charcoal is probably very much greater. This weight remains unknown because charcoal is capable of but few direct reactions and those only at a high temperature (when the weight of its molecules probably changes, as when ozone changes into oxygen), and it does not turn into vapour. Carbon exists in nature, both in a free and combined state, in most varied forms and aspects. Carbon in a free state is found in at least three different forms, as charcoal, graphite, and the diamond. In a combined state it enters into the composition of what are called organic substances—a multitude of substances which are found in all plants and animals. It exists as carbonic anhydride both in air and in water, and in the soil and crust of the earth as salts of carbonic acid and as organic remains.
The variety of the substances of which the structure of plants and animals is built up is familiar to all. Wax, oil, turpentine, and tar, cotton and albumin, the tissue of plants and the muscular fibre of animals, vinegar and starch, are all vegetable and animal matters, and all carbon compounds.[1] The class of carbon compounds is so vast that it forms a separate branch of chemistry, known under the name of organic chemistry—that is, the chemistry of carbon compounds, or, more strictly, of the hydrocarbons and their derivatives.
If any one of these organic compounds be strongly heated without free access of air—or, better still, in a vacuum—it decomposes with more or less facility. If the supply of air be insufficient, or the temperature be too low for combustion (see Chapter [III].), and if the first volatile products of transformation of the organic matter are subjected to condensation (for example, if the door of a stove be opened), an imperfect combustion takes place, and smoke, with charcoal or soot, is formed.[2] The nature of the phenomenon, and the products arising from it, are the same as those produced by heating alone, since that part which is in a state of combustion serves to heat the remainder of the fuel. The decomposition which takes place on heating a compound composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen is as follows:—A part of the hydrogen is separated in a gaseous state, another part in combination with oxygen, and a third part separates in combination with carbon, and sometimes in combination with carbon and oxygen in the form of gaseous or volatile products, or, as they are also called, the products of dry distillation. If the vapours of these products are passed through a strongly heated tube, they are changed again in a similar manner and finally resolve themselves into hydrogen and charcoal. Altogether these various products of decomposition contain a smaller amount of carbon than the original organic matter; part of the carbon remains in a free state, forming charcoal.[3] It remains in that space where the decomposition took place, in the shape of the black, infusible, non-volatile charcoal familiar to all. The earthy matter and all non-volatile substances (ash) forming a part of the organic matter, remain behind with the charcoal. The tar-like substances, which require a high temperature in order to decompose them, also remain mixed with charcoal. If a volatile organic substance, such as a gaseous compound containing oxygen and hydrogen, be taken, the carbon separates on passing the vapour through a tube heated to a high temperature. Organic substances when burning with an insufficient supply of air give off soot—that is, charcoal—proceeding from carbon compounds in a state of vapour, the hydrogen of which has, by combustion, been converted into water; so, for instance, turpentine, naphthalene, and other hydrocarbons which are with difficulty decomposed by heat, easily yield carbon in the form of soot during combustion. Chlorine and other substances which, like oxygen, are capable of taking up hydrogen, and also substances which are capable of taking up water, can also separate carbon from (or char) most organic substances.
Wood charcoal is prepared in large quantities in a similar manner—that is, by the partial combustion of wood.[4] In nature a similar process of carbonisation of vegetable refuse takes place in its transformation under water, as shown by the marshy vegetation which forms peat.[5] In this manner doubtless the enormous masses of coal were formed[6] which, following the example set by England, are now utilised everywhere as the principal material for heating steam boilers, and in general for all purposes of heating and burning.[7] Russia possesses many very rich coalfields, amongst which the Donetz district is most worthy of remark.[8]
During the imperfect combustion of volatile substances containing carbon and hydrogen, the hydrogen and part of the carbon first burn, and the remainder of the carbon forms soot. Tar, pitch, and similar substances for this reason burn with a smoky flame. Thus soot is finely-divided charcoal separated during the imperfect combustion of the vapours and gases of carbonaceous substances rich in carbon. Specially-prepared soot (lampblack) is very largely used as a black paint and a large quantity goes for the manufacture of printers' ink. It is prepared by burning tar, oil, natural gas, naphtha, &c. The quantity of organic matter remaining undecomposed in the charcoal depends on the temperature to which it has been submitted. Charcoal prepared at the lowest temperature still contains a considerable quantity of hydrogen and oxygen—even as much as 4 p.c. of hydrogen and 20 p.c. of oxygen. Such charcoal still preserves the structure of the substance from which it was obtained. Ordinary charcoal, for instance, in which the structure of the tree is still visible, is of this kind. On submitting it to further heating, a fresh quantity of hydrogen with carbon and oxygen (in the form of gases or volatile matter) may be separated, and the purest charcoal will be obtained on submitting it to the greatest heat.[9] If it be required to prepare pure charcoal from soot it is necessary first to wash it with alcohol and ether in order to remove the soluble tarry products, and then submit it to a powerful heat to drive off the impurities containing hydrogen and oxygen. Charcoal however when completely purified does not change in appearance. Its porosity,[10] bad conducting power for heat, capability of absorbing the luminous rays (hence its blackness and opacity), and many other qualities, are familiar from everyday experience.[11] The specific gravity of charcoal varies from 1·4 to 1·9, and that it floats on water is due to the air contained in its pores. If charcoal is reduced to a powder and moistened with spirit, it immediately sinks in water. It is infusible in the furnace and even at the temperature of the oxyhydrogen flame. In the heat generated by means of a powerful galvanic current charcoal only softens but does not completely melt, and on cooling it is found to have undergone a complete change both in properties and appearance, and is more or less transformed into graphite. The physical stability of charcoal is without doubt allied to its chemical stability. It is evidently a substance devoid of energy, for it is insoluble in all known liquids, and at an ordinary temperature does not combine with anything; it is an inactive substance, like nitrogen.[12] But these properties of charcoal change with a rise of temperature; thus, unlike nitrogen, charcoal, at a high temperature, combines directly with oxygen. This is well known, as charcoal burns in air. Indeed, not only does oxygen combine with charcoal at a red heat, but sulphur, hydrogen, silicon, and also iron and some other metals[12 bis] do so at a very high temperature—that is, when the molecules of the charcoal have reached a state of great instability—whilst at ordinary temperatures neither oxygen, sulphur, nor metals act on charcoal in any way. When burning in oxygen, charcoal forms carbonic anhydride, CO2, whilst in the vapours of sulphur, carbon bisulphide, CS2, is formed, and wrought iron, when acted on by carbon, becomes cast iron. At the great heat obtained by passing the galvanic current through carbon electrodes, charcoal combines with hydrogen, forming acetylene, C2H2. Charcoal does not combine directly with nitrogen, but in the presence of metals and alkaline oxides, nitrogen is absorbed, forming a metallic cyanide, as, for instance, potassium cyanide, KCN. From these few direct combinations which charcoal is capable of entering into, may be derived those numerous carbonaceous compounds which enter into the composition of plants and animals, and can be thus obtained artificially. Certain substances containing oxygen give up a part of it to charcoal at a relatively low temperature. For instance, nitric acid when boiled with charcoal gives carbonic anhydride and nitric peroxide. Sulphuric acid is reduced to sulphurous anhydride when heated with carbon. When heated to redness charcoal absorbs oxygen from a large number of the oxides. Even such oxides as those of sodium and potassium, when heated to redness, yield their oxygen to charcoal although they do not part with it to hydrogen. Only a few of the oxides, like silica (oxide of silicon) and lime (calcium oxide) resist the reducing action of charcoal. Charcoal is capable of changing its physical condition without undergoing any alteration in its essential chemical properties—that is, it passes into isomeric or allotropic forms. The two other particular forms in which carbon appears are the diamond and graphite. The identity of composition of these with charcoal is proved by burning an equal quantity of all three separately in oxygen (at a very high temperature), when each gives the same quantity of carbonic anhydride—namely, 12 parts of charcoal, diamond, or graphite in a pure state, yield on burning 44 parts by weight of carbonic anhydride. The physical properties present a marked contrast; the densest sorts of charcoal have a density of only 1·9, whilst the density of graphite is about 2·3, and that of the diamond 3·5. A great many other properties depend on the density, for instance combustibility. The lighter charcoal is, the more easily it burns; graphite burns with considerable difficulty even in oxygen, and the diamond burns only in oxygen and at a very high temperature. On burning, charcoal, the diamond, and graphite develop different quantities of heat. One part by weight of wood charcoal converted by burning into carbonic anhydride develops 8,080 heat units; dense charcoal separated in gas retorts develops 8,050 heat units; natural graphite, 7,800 heat units; and the diamond 7,770. The greater the density the less the heat evolved by the combustion of the carbon.[13]
By means of intense heat charcoal may be transformed into graphite. If a charcoal rod 4 mm. in diameter and 5 mm. long be enclosed in an exhausted receiver and the current from 600 Bunsen's elements, placed in parallel series of 100, be passed through it, the charcoal becomes strongly incandescent, partially volatilises, and is deposited in the form of graphite. If sugar be placed in a charcoal crucible and a powerful galvanic current passed through it, it is baked into a mass similar to graphite. If charcoal be mixed with wrought iron and heated, cast iron is formed, which contains as much as five per cent. of charcoal. If molten cast iron be suddenly chilled, the carbon remains in combination with the iron, forming so called white cast iron; but if the cooling proceeds slowly, the greater part of the carbon separates in the form of graphite, and if such cast iron (so called grey cast iron) be dissolved in acid, the carbon remains in the form of graphite. Graphite is met with in nature, sometimes in the form of large compact masses, sometimes permeating rocky formations like the schists or slates, and in fact is met with in those places which, in all probability, have been subjected to the action of subterranean heat.[14] The graphite in cast iron, and sometimes also natural graphite, occasionally appears in a crystalline form in the shape of six-sided plates, but more often it occurs as a compact amorphous mass having the characteristic properties of the familiar black-lead pencil.[15]
The diamond is a crystalline and transparent form of carbon. It is of rare occurrence in nature, and is found in the alluvial deposits of the diamond mines of Brazil, India, South Africa, &c. It has also been found in meteorites.[15 bis] It crystallises in octahedra, dodecahedra, cubes, and other forms of the regular system.[16] The efforts which have been made to produce diamonds artificially, although they have not been fruitless, have not as yet led to the production of large-sized crystals, because those means by which crystals are generally formed are inapplicable to carbon. Indeed, carbon in all its forms being insoluble and infusible does not pass into a liquid condition by means of which crystallisation could take place. Diamonds have several times been successfully produced in the shape of minute crystals having the appearance of a black powder, but when viewed under the microscope appearing transparent, and possessing that hardness which is the peculiar characteristic of the diamond. This diamond powder is deposited on the negative electrode, when a weak galvanic current is passed through liquid chloride of carbon.[16 bis]