crude oil Flashcards
How is crude oil formed?
Over millions of years with high temperature and pressure the buried remains of plants and animals are turned into crude oil.
What is crude oil?
A fossil fuel
What is crude oil a mixture of?
Hydrocarbons
What is a hydrocarbon
A molecule that is made up of chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms only.
What is the structural difference between different fuels?
Different fuels have different hydrocarbon chain lengths
As a hydrocarbon chain gets longer its ________ change.
properties
Describe the properties of short chain hydrocarbons
They have low boiling points
They are often gases.
Describe the properties of long chain hydrocarbons?
They have high boiling points.
They are quite viscous.
What does viscous mean?
How thick and sticky a liquid is.
What are the two important types of bonding in crude oil?
The strong covalent bond between the carbon and hydrogen atoms within each hydrocarbon molecule.
The intermolecular forces of attraction between different hydrocarbon molecules in the mixture.
What happens to crude oil molecules when they are heated?
They gain energy and move around more.
They may gain enough energy to overcome the intermolecular forces and turn into a gas.
How are covalent bonds different to intermolecular forces?
Covalent bonds are much stronger.
Why do long hydrocarbon molecules have a higher boiling point than short hydrocarbon molecules?
Because they have stronger intermolecular forces between them.
How can we make crude oil useful?
By separating it into more useful products.
The process of separating crude oil is called…
Refining
