These precautions are far more essential with acetylene
than with coal-gas. The table shows further how great is the danger of
explosion if benzene, benzoline, or other similar highly volatile
hydrocarbons [Footnote: The nomenclature of the different volatile
spirits is apt to be very confusing. "Benzene" is the proper name for the
most volatile hydrocarbon derived from coal-tar, whose formula is C_6H_6.
Commercially, benzene is often known as "benzol" or "benzole"; but it
would be generally advantageous if those latter words were only used to
mean imperfectly rectified benzene, _i.e._, mixtures of benzene with
toluene, &c., such as are more explicitly understood by the terms "90.s
benzol" and "50.s benzol." "Gasoline," "carburine," "petroleum ether,"
"benzine," "benzoline," "petrol," and "petroleum spirit" all refer to
more or less volatile (the most volatile being mentioned first) and more
or less thoroughly rectified products obtained from petroleum. They are
mixtures of different hydrocarbons, the greater part of them having the
general chemical formula C_nH_2n+2 where n = 5 or more. None of them is a
definite chemical compound as is benzene; when n = 5 only the product is
pentane.
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