methane, CH₄, colorless, odorless, gaseous saturated hydrocarbon; the simplest alkane. It is less dense than air, melts at -184°C;, and boils at -161.4°C;. It is combustible and can form explosive mixtures with air. Methane occurs naturally as the principal component of natural gas; it is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. When this decomposition occurs underwater in swamps and marshes, marsh gas is released. The firedamp of coal mines is chiefly methane. In the atmosphere methane is a greenhouse gas, helping to trap infrared radiation and warm the earth (see also global warming). Methane, in the form of icelike methane hydrate (composed of methane and frozen water), also is stored in seabed sediments at ocean depths where sufficiently low temperatures and high pressures prevail.

Methane can be prepared in the laboratory by heating sodium acetate with sodium hydroxide, by the reaction of aluminum carbide with water, by the direct combination of carbon and hydrogen, or by the destructive distillation of coal or wood. As natural gas, methane is widely used for fuel. It is also used for carbonizing steel. It is unaffected by many common chemical reagents but reacts violently with chlorine or fluorine in the presence of light and is therefore important as a starting material for the synthesis of solvents, e.g., methylene chloride, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride, and of some of the Freon refrigerants.

or marsh gas

Organic compound, chemical formula CH₄, colourless, odourless gas that occurs in natural gas (called firedamp in coal mines) and from bacterial decomposition of vegetation in the absence of oxygen (including in the rumens of cattle and other ruminants and in the gut of termites). The simplest member of the paraffin hydrocarbons, methane burns readily, forming carbon dioxide and water if supplied with enough oxygen for complete combustion or carbon monoxide if the oxygen is insufficient. Mixtures of 5–14percnt methane in air are explosive and have caused many mine disasters. The chief source of methane is natural gas, but it can also be produced from coal. Abundant, cheap, and clean, methane is used widely as a fuel in homes, commercial establishments, and factories; as a safety measure, it is mixed with trace amounts of an odorant to allow its detection. It is also a raw material for many industrial materials, including fertilizers, explosives, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and carbon black, and is the principal source of methanol.

Learn more about methane with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Flouri-Methane is a vapocoolant spray produced and distributed by Gebauer Co.

Its ingredients are:

Dichlorodifluoromethane 15%
Trichloromonofluoromethane 85%

External links

• http://www.gebauerco.com/ContentPages/ResourceCenter/PDFs/ProductSheets/SASPS_ENG.Pdf