Colorless and flammable gas at room temperature and pressure, with a slight sweet and moldy taste. The self ignition temperature in air is 490 ℃. It is chemically active and can form explosive mixtures with air, making it highly flammable and explosive. Can react violently with chlorine gas under sunlight to produce an explosion. It can strongly react with oxidants and poses a risk of combustion and explosion when encountering Mars, high heat, and combustion supporting gases.

High purity ethylene is widely used in the preparation of standard gases, calibration gases, and ethylene containing standard mixtures.