At room temperature, the gas is flammable, and it explodes when mixed with air. When ethane is liquid, touching it causes a very serious frostbite.
References
↑ 1.01.1Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry : IUPAC Recommendations and Preferred Names 2013 (Blue Book). Cambridge: The Royal Society of Chemistry. 2014. p. 4. doi:10.1039/9781849733069-FP001. ISBN978-0-85404-182-4. Similarly, the retained names 'ethane', 'propane', and 'butane' were never replaced by systematic names 'dicarbane', 'tricarbane', and 'tetracarbane' as recommended for analogues of silane, 'disilane'; phosphane, 'triphosphane'; and sulfane, 'tetrasulfane'.
↑"Ethane – Compound Summary". PubChem Compound. USA: National Center for Biotechnology Information. 16 September 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
↑Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. p. 8.88. ISBN0-8493-0486-5.