Carbon Monoxide, chemical compound of carbon and oxygen with the formula CO. It is a colorless, odorless gas, about 3 percent lighter than air, and is poisonous to all warm-blooded animals and to many other forms of life. When inhaled it combines with hemoglobin in the blood, preventing absorption of oxygen and resulting in asphyxiation. Carbon monoxide is formed whenever carbon or substances containing carbon are burned with an insufficient air supply. Even when the amount …showed first 75 words of 386 total…

…showed last 75 words of 386 total…as a reducing agent, that is, it removes oxygen from the ore. Carbon monoxide combines actively with chlorine to form carbonyl chloride, or phosgene, and it combines with hydrogen, when heated in the presence of a catalyst, to form methyl alcohol. The direct combination of carbon monoxide with certain metals, forming gaseous compounds, is used in refining those metals, particularly nickel. Carbon monoxide melts at -205° C (-337° F) and boils at -191.5° C (-312.7°