A chemical compound formed when acetylene gas reacts with a metal, often creating unstable or reactive substances.
From acetyl(ene) + -ide (suffix for binary compounds). The term became standard in chemistry during the late 1800s as acetylene's properties were studied and used in industry.
Acetylides are fascinating because some of them are explosive—calcium carbide, for example, reacts with water to produce acetylene gas, which was actually used to light street lamps and miners' headlamps before electric lights existed!
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