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 , and follow its directions.

Structure and properties

Structure and properties
Surface tension21.16 dyn/cm at −119.9 °C

Thermodynamic properties

Phase behavior
Triple point91 K (−182 °C), 1.1 Pa
Std entropy change of fusion, ΔfusSo6.46 J/(mol·K) at −182 °C
Std enthalpy change of vaporization, ΔvapHo crystal I → liquid14.703 kJ/mol at −89.0 °C
Std entropy change of vaporization, ΔvapSo crystal I → liquid79.87 J/(mol·K) at −89.0 °C
Std enthalpy change of state transition, ΔtrsHo crystal II → crystal I2.282 kJ/mol at −183.3 °C
Std entropy change of state transition, ΔtrsSo crystal II → crystal I25.48 kJ/mol at −183.3 °C
Solid properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, ΔfHosolid? kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, Sosolid? J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, cp? J/(mol K)
Liquid properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, ΔfHoliquid? kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, Soliquid126.7 J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, cp68.5 J/(mol K) at −179 °C
Gas properties
Std enthalpy change of formation, ΔfHogas−83.8 kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy, Sogas229.6 J/(mol K)
Enthalpy of combustion, ΔcHo−1560.7 kJ/mol
Heat capacity, cp52.49 J/(mol K) at 25 °C
van der Waals' constantsa = 556.2 L2 kPa/mol2 b = 0.06380 L/mol

Vapor pressure of liquid

P in mm Hg11040100400760152038007600152003040045600
T in °C−159.5−142.9−129.8−119.3−99.6−88.6−75.0−52.8−32.0−6.423.6—

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

Ethane vapor pressure vs. temperature. Uses formula ln ⁡ P mm Hg = {\displaystyle \ln P_{\text{mm Hg}}=}ln ⁡ 760 101.325 − 5.381564 ln ⁡ T − 2626.728 T + 46.39131 + 1.601858 × 10 − 05 T 2 {\displaystyle \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

Melting point data

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

Sources used, from :

  • −183.33 °C
  • −182.85 °C from CHERIC
  • −182.78 °C
  • −182.79 °C from PHYSPROP
  • −183.28 °C

Values considered "outliers", not included in averaging:

  • −172 °C from Oxford MSDS
  • −172.15 °C

Spectral data