C9 Crude Oil Flashcards
What is crude oil?
- A mixture of different compounds
- A finite resource found in rocks from dead organic material
What does crude oil contain?
A mixture of hydrocarbons
What is crude oil separated into and what is this based on?
It is separated into fractions based on boiling point
What is an alkane?
A saturated hydrocarbon that contains as many H atoms as possible
What is the general formula for alkanes?
CnH(2n + 2)
What are the properties of short hydrocarbons?
- Low boiling point
- High volatility (turn to gas)
- Low viscosity
- Highly flammable
What are the properties of longer hydrocarbon chains?
- Higher boiling point
- Lower volatility (turn to gas)
- High viscosity
- Lower flammability (with a smoky flame)
How is crude oil separated?
fractional distillation
how is crude oil formed?
over millions of years from tiny plankton that were buried in mud
what is a hydrocarbon?
a molecule made up of only hydrogen and carbon
what are the first 4 alkanes?
methane
ethane
propane
butane
what is viscosity?
it tells the thickness of a liquid
what does flammability mean?
how easily the hydrocarbon combusts
what happens when hydrocarbon fuels are combusted?
they release energy
what happens when a hydrocarbon burns with plenty of oxygen?
the reaction will produce carbon dioxide and water
what do crude oil fractions contain?
hydrocarbon molecules with a similar number of carbon atoms
what are the stages of fractional distillation?
- crude oil is heated to a very high temperature and fed into the fractionating column which is hot at the bottom and cool at the top
- hydrocarbons rise up the column and condense when they reach their boiling point
- the liquid fractions are then removed
what happens to very long chain hydrocarbons in fractional distillation?
they are removed from the bottom of the column
what happens to very short chain hydrocarbons in fractional distillation?
they do not condense and are removed from the column as gases
what is petrol and diesel used for?
fueling cars
what is kerosene used for?
airoplane fuel
what is heavy fuel oil used for?
ship fuel
what is liquid petroleum gas used for?
camping stoves
what is a feedstock?
a chemical used to make other chemicals
what is produced from feedstock fractions of crude oil?
solvents
lubricants
polymers
detergents
what happens in cracking?
a long chain hydrocarbon is broken down into smaller and more useful molecules
what is catalytic cracking?
where high temperatures and a catalyst are used to crack the hydrocarbon
what is steam cracking?
when high temperature and steam is used to crack hydrocarbons
what do alkenes have?
a double covalent bond between two carbon atoms
what can alkenes be used for?
to make polymers
as a starting material for other chemicals
how reactive are alkenes?
more reactive than alkanes
what is the test for alkenes?
if an alkene is shaken with bromine water, the bromine water turns from orange to colourless
