Talk:Ethane

Meaning of "simple"
The article has the sentence "It is the simplest hydrocarbon containing more than one carbon atom."

Not quite sure what "simplest" means here... acetylene would seem simpler in having fewer hydrogens.

Opinions?

Depends on how you define it. Ethane has only sp3 hybrid orbitals, therefore only equivalent σ bonds, whereas acetylene has σ and π bonds, giving a more complicated electronic configuration. I would keep it the way it is. Dr. Strangelove 09:01, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I agree, it depends on how you define it. And, also, it depends on why you define it. My guess is that the author was trying to say something to non-scientists, and to readers in that group, who don't know chemical bond types, numbers seem crucial to simplicity. But I'm not a mindreader (or a chemist), and don't have a stake in the outcome. Fg2 10:22, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Density
Ummm, maybe this is just me and my humble background, but I doubt that ethane is 548 kg/m^3 as a gas. These pages REALLY need consistant units (from ethane to methane to propane etc.)

- I've corrected the density to 1.212 kg/m^3. This is from the www.airliquide.com gas data for ethane, 1.013 bar and 15 deg C. Evand 20:10, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Ethane on Titan
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Ethane_clouds_found_on_Titan I was thinking this might be rellevant to the article, as Titan and it's Ethane is mentioned and discussed breifly? --217.78.21.25 08:26, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

hey
having had some Transformer oil tested the results --2013 is 66ppm---2015 is 79ppm, what could be generating this increase ? Tony.B.203.161.9.172 (talk) 23:32, 8 September 2015 (UTC)
 * This page is for discussing improvements to the article ethane. To get an answer to your question you might try Reference desk/Science. ChemNerd (talk) 17:34, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

Translation into Chinese Wikipedia
The 21:51, 27 May 2009 75.159.246.88 version of this article is translated into Chinese Wikipedia.--Wing (talk) 20:54, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Confusing sentence
This article contains the sentence:

"It is the only two-carbon alkane that is an aliphatic hydrocarbon."

While technically correct, I find it confusing: isn't ethane the only two-carbon alkane, period? Alkanes are only allowed to have C and H and simple bonds, right? Aliphatic means the same as non-aromatic - i.e. no carbon rings, right? Isn't it true that there are no aromatic alkanes, much less ones with too few carbons to make a ring?

Wh44 (talk) 00:12, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Yes, that confused me too. And why would anyone care, anyway? Thirteenangrymen (talk) 00:05, 22 November 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree. The sentence is confusing and conveys no useful information, so I have removed it.  ChemNerd (talk) 12:31, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

Structure section
I was thinking of adding a section on the structure of ethane, after the History section and before the Chemistry one, as is the case for most of our articles on chemical compounds. It would have a brief description of ethane as a simple example of an organic compound with a carbon-carbon bond and tetrahedral sp3 hybridised carbon atoms. It could include comparison with related species such as disilane (Si2H6), ethylene (C2H4) and acetylene (C2H2).

I would include the image below that was removed from the info box a few years ago without comment, but presumably because it was too technical for casual readers. An interesting aspect of the molecular geometry of ethane is that the C-C-H angle deviates from the ideal tetrahedral angle of 109.5° found in perfectly symmetrical tetrahedral molecules such as methane.

Any comments? --Ben (talk) 16:28, 5 August 2014 (UTC)




 * I think molecular geometry is a good addition to simple molecules' articles. It clearly illustrates each of the basic types of atoms/bonds you mention, without becoming overly complicated by a more complex molecule. I agree it might be too technical for the infobox (but the infoxbox can host several images with different styles or types of detail...see Benzene for what I think is the pendulum swinging too far in that other direction). DMacks (talk) 17:42, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 14:43, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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Wrong units for density
The density units (kg/m−3) are wrong. Either use kg/m^3 or kg m^−3 Michael McGinnis (talk) 18:55, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

Etymology of "ethane"
I removed a sentence saying that the prefix "eth-" was derived from ethanol, which wasn't supported by anything (the sentence was also misedited in ). Wiktionary says it comes from the German "Äthyl" or from "ether", and "ether" comes from Latin and/or Ancient Greek. Can someone elaborate and add a solid explanation in the article? ElementSix (talk) 20:36, 12 March 2022 (UTC)

Titan
Is there is water on Titan? It's my doubt for long year 49.15.220.113 (talk) 15:41, 14 April 2022 (UTC)