How do they melt carbon?

cragar

If carbon has the highest melting point of any of our known elements , then how do they melt it , the only thing I could think of is containing it in a magnetic field and maybe using like an electric arc furnace.

Pengwuino

What do you see as the problem?

cragar

so what container do they put it into , and how do they keep the oxygen away from it .

Pengwuino

I can imagine it can be contained in containers that have high melting points due to the alloys used. Though, not my field of expertise!

cragar

ya i dont know , carbon has a higher melting point then brick and some rocks
which are pretty high .

Borek

You don't have to use a container. Take a block of substance and heat it in one point at the top - when it starts to melt it doesn't melt in the volume, but just in the place it was heated. This way substance itself works as a container

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buffer calculator, concentration calculator
pH calculator, stoichiometry calculator

cragar

ok i could see that , how do we keep oxygen away from it so it doesn't burn.

alxm

You do it in an oxygen-free environment? That's a pretty easy part.

Borek

Agreed. Vacuum or inert gas. Both used in commercial applications on the large scale, so no problems with implementation.

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chemical calculators - buffer calculator, concentration calculator
www.titrations.info - all about titration methods

windwitch

Different carbon compounds have varying melting points so perhaps you melt carbon by placing a carbon compound in a container comprising carbon compounds with a higher melting point?

SeanB

its very simple. you need a controlled environment. remove the O2 and substitute it with an inert gas. bring the environment up to ( ) pressure and introduce an plasma or ( ). why would you want to know this anyway? are you looking for a challenge? NASA Challenge?

cragar

I was just thinking about it one day , thanks for the answer.

lightarrow

Of course you know that carbon doesn't melt at standard pressure, it sublimates.

SeanB

The reason I responded to this, this way is because Im in my prototype stage of production. I’ve tested several different theories and im stuck on this one. So we will see. Thanks again and very good question. At least for me.

PhaseShifter

Considering that carbon sublimes at ambient pressures, I would go with the "inert gas" option.

DrDu

Would there be really be a difference between vacuum and inert gas atmosphere as far as subliming vs. melting? The relevant pressure seems to me to be the partial pressure of carbon and not that of an inert gas.

PhaseShifter

To some extent you are correct, however, there is the difference between evaporation and boiling--pressure will prevent bubbles from expanding within the liquid.