Question #77a01

Question

1864 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2016-05-03T09:30:18

#CaCN_2#

Equation

#CaC_2+N_2->CaCN_2+C# (at 1100C)

#CaCN_2->#Calcium cyanamide used as fertilizer.

Answer 2 · 2016-05-03T09:53:03

None of these, actually. You get calcium cyanamide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_cyanamide), #"Ca(CN"_2")#.

Calcium cyanamide is not the same as calcium cyanide, which is #"Ca(CN")_2""#.

Cyanamide has two nitrogen atoms attached to one carbon like this:

#"N"^{-}="C"="N"^-#

Two cyanide ions would of course have the nitrogen attached to separate carbon atoms and the negative charge formally on carbon not nitrogen:

#"C"^{-}-="N"#
#"C"^{-}-="N"#

Calcium cyanamide has several applications including a nitrogen source in soul fertilizer -- where cyanide would be a poor choice indeed!