A colorless, volatile liquid, (CH3)2C:CH2, obtained from gases in petroleum cracking: it polymerizes readily and is used in making synthetic rubber and resins.
the molecules, are identical, and so the molecule of both butylene and isobutylene is indicated by the same chemical symbol C4118, expressing that each molecule contains, in both cases, four atoms of carbon (C) and eight of hydrogen (H).
iroXb, many) was chosen for compounds like butylene, C 4 H 8, and ethylene, C 2 H 4, corresponding to the same composition in weight but differing in molecular formula, and having different densities in gas or vapour, a litre of butylene and isobutylene weighing, for instance, under ordinary temperature and pressure, about 2.5 gr., ethylene only one-half as much, since density is proportional to molecular weight.
In the case of metamerism we can imagine that the atoms are differently linked, say in the case of butylene that the atoms of carbon are joined together as a continuous chain, expressed by CC C C, normally as it is called, whereas in isobutylene the fourth atom of carbon is not attached to the third but to the second carbon atom, i.e.
Now, in this case, the first definition expresses much better the whole chemical behaviour of ozone, which is that of "energetic" oxygen, while the second only includes the fact of higher vapour-density; but in applying the first definition to organic compounds and calling isobutylene "butylene with somewhat more energy" hardly anything is indicated, and all the advantages of the atomic conception - the possibility of exactly predicting how many isomers a given formula includes and how you may get them - are lost.