Fun with calcium carbide

I got an old mining lamp and explored its operation.

[@smellsofbikes]

When I was first caving, at maybe 10 years old, people were still using these. A guy did a poor job of adjusting his and had this huge flame shooting out of his helmet-mounted light, in the middle of a very dark cave, and I was already convinced that our use of flashlights (duct-taped to our bike helmets) was a much better choice.