Ethane (data page)

This page provides supplementary chemical data on ethane.

Material Safety Data Sheet

The handling of this chemical may incur notable safety precautions. It is highly recommend that you seek the Material Safety Datasheet (MSDS) for this chemical from a reliable source such as SIRI, and follow its directions.

Structure and properties

Structure and properties
Index of refraction, n_D	?
Abbe number	?
Dielectric constant, ε_r	? ε₀ at ? °C
Bond strength	?
Bond length	?
Bond angle	?
Magnetic susceptibility	?
Surface tension	21.16 dyn/cm at −119.9 °C

Thermodynamic properties

Phase behavior
Triple point	91 K (−182 °C), 1.1 Pa
Critical point	305.3 K (32.2 °C), 4.9 MPa
Std enthalpy change of fusion, Δ_fusH^o	9.76 kJ/mol at −182 °C
Std entropy change of fusion, Δ_fusS^o	6.46 J/(mol·K) at −182 °C
Std enthalpy change of vaporization, Δ_vapH^o crystal I → liquid	14.703 kJ/mol at −89.0 °C
Std entropy change of vaporization, Δ_vapS^o crystal I → liquid	79.87 J/(mol·K) at −89.0 °C
Std enthalpy change of state transition, Δ_trsH^o crystal II → crystal I	2.282 kJ/mol at −183.3 °C
Std entropy change of state transition, Δ_trsS^o crystal II → crystal I	25.48 kJ/mol at −183.3 °C
Solid properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, Δ_fH^o_solid	? kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, S^o_solid	? J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, c_p	? J/(mol K)
Liquid properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, Δ_fH^o_liquid	? kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, S^o_liquid	126.7 J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, c_p	68.5 J/(mol K) at −179 °C
Gas properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, Δ_fH^o_gas	−83.8 kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, S^o_gas	229.6 J/(mol K)
Enthalpy of combustion, Δ_cH^o	−1560.7 kJ/mol
Heat capacity, c_p	52.49 J/(mol K) at 25 °C
van der Waals' constants^[1]	a = 556.2 L² kPa/mol² b = 0.06380 L/mol

Vapor pressure of liquid

P in mm Hg		1	10	40	100	400	760	1520	3800	7600	15200	30400	45600
T in °C		−159.5	−142.9	−129.8	−119.3	−99.6	−88.6	−75.0	−52.8	−32.0	−6.4	23.6	—

Table data obtained from CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 44th ed.

Ethane vapor pressure vs. temperature. Uses formula $\ln P_{\text{mm Hg}}=$ $\ln {\frac {760}{101.325}}-5.381564\ln T-{\frac {2626.728}{T}}+46.39131+1.601858\times 10^{-05}T^{2}$ (with T in kelvins) obtained from CHERIC^[2]

Melting point data

Mean value for acceptable data: −183.01 °C (90.14 K).

Sources used, from ONS Open Melting Point Collection:^[3]

−183.33 °C^[4]
−182.85 °C from CHERIC^[5]
−182.78 °C^[6]
−182.79 °C from PHYSPROP^[7]
−183.28 °C^[8]

Values considered "outliers", not included in averaging:

−172 °C from Oxford MSDS^[9]
−172.15 °C^[10]

Spectral data

UV-Vis
λ_max	? nm
Extinction coefficient, ε	?
IR
Major absorption bands	? cm⁻¹
NMR
Proton NMR
Carbon-13 NMR
Other NMR data
MS
Masses of main fragments

References

^ Lange's Handbook of Chemistry 10th ed, pp. 1522–1524
^ "Pure Component Properties" (Queriable database). Chemical Engineering Research Information Center. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
^ Bradley, Jean-Claude; Lang, Andrew; Williams, Antony; Curtin, Evan (2011). "ONS Open Melting Point Collection". Nature Precedings. doi:10.1038/npre.2011.6229.1.
^ Burnett, Lowell J.; Muller, Burton H. (1970). "Melting points of ethane and three of its deuterated modifications". J. Chem. Eng. Data. 15 (1): 154–157. doi:10.1021/je60044a013.
^ "CHERIC". Chemical Engineering Research Information Center. Archived from the original (Queriable database) on 2 August 2002. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
^ Givens, F. L.; McCormick, W. D. (1977). "Proton magnetic resonance line shape measurements in solid ethane". J. Chem. Phys. 67 (3): 1150–6. doi:10.1063/1.434967.
^ "PHYSPROP" (Queriable database). SRC, Inc. (Syracuse Research Corporation). Retrieved 25 August 2011.
^ Witt, R. K.; Kemp, J. D. (1937). "The Heat Capacity of Ethane from 15K. to the Boiling Point. The Heat of Fusion and the Heat of Vaporization". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 59 (2): 273–276. doi:10.1021/ja01281a013.
^ "Safety data for ethane" (Queriable database). Oxford University. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
^ Streng, A. G. (1971). "Miscibility and compatibility of some liquefied and solidified gases at low temperatures". J. Chem. Eng. Data. 16 (3): 357–359. doi:10.1021/je60050a024.

This box:

Except where noted otherwise, data relate to Standard temperature and pressure.
Reliability of data general note.

[lange1522-1] Lange's Handbook of Chemistry 10th ed, pp. 1522–1524

[2] "Pure Component Properties" (Queriable database). Chemical Engineering Research Information Center. Retrieved 8 May 2007.

[Bradley2011-3] Bradley, Jean-Claude; Lang, Andrew; Williams, Antony; Curtin, Evan (2011). "ONS Open Melting Point Collection". Nature Precedings. doi:10.1038/npre.2011.6229.1.

[Burnett1970-4] Burnett, Lowell J.; Muller, Burton H. (1970). "Melting points of ethane and three of its deuterated modifications". J. Chem. Eng. Data. 15 (1): 154–157. doi:10.1021/je60044a013.

[CHERIC-5] "CHERIC". Chemical Engineering Research Information Center. Archived from the original (Queriable database) on 2 August 2002. Retrieved 25 August 2011.

[Givens1977-6] Givens, F. L.; McCormick, W. D. (1977). "Proton magnetic resonance line shape measurements in solid ethane". J. Chem. Phys. 67 (3): 1150–6. doi:10.1063/1.434967.

[PHYSPROP-7] "PHYSPROP" (Queriable database). SRC, Inc. (Syracuse Research Corporation). Retrieved 25 August 2011.

[Witt1937-8] Witt, R. K.; Kemp, J. D. (1937). "The Heat Capacity of Ethane from 15K. to the Boiling Point. The Heat of Fusion and the Heat of Vaporization". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 59 (2): 273–276. doi:10.1021/ja01281a013.

[OxfordMSDS-9] "Safety data for ethane" (Queriable database). Oxford University. Retrieved 25 August 2011.

[Streng1971-10] Streng, A. G. (1971). "Miscibility and compatibility of some liquefied and solidified gases at low temperatures". J. Chem. Eng. Data. 16 (3): 357–359. doi:10.1021/je60050a024.

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