alkanes

Question 1

what is crude oil

Answer 1

a mixture of different hydrocarbons

Question 2

how can crude oil be separated

Answer 2

fractional distillation

Question 3

what does fractional distillation rely on

Answer 3

the different molecules having different boiling points

Question 4

what happens to products with shorter carbon chains in the separation of crude oil

Answer 4

they have lower boiling points, so rise higher up the column before reaching their boiling point. therefore they are collected at the top of the fractionating column

Question 5

what happens to products with longer carbon chains in the separation of crude oil

Answer 5

they have higher boiling points, meaning they don’t rise very fair up the column before reaching their boiling point. they condense and are collected at the bottom of the fractionating column

Question 6

what is cracking

Answer 6

the process of breaking down long-chain hydrocarbons down into shorter, more useful, hydrocarbons

Question 7

what are the 2 main types of cracking

Answer 7

thermal
catalytic