Crude oil

Question 1

What is crude oil?

Answer 1

A mixture of hydrocarbons

Question 2

What is a hydrocarbon?

Answer 2

A compound made from hydrogen and carbon only

Question 3

How can you separate hydrocarbons?

Answer 3

Through fractional distillation

Question 4

How does fractional distillation work?

Answer 4

Because the different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, when you put them in a fractioning column and heat them, they will all condense at different levels, so you can collect the different types

Question 5

Which hydrocarbons are collected at the bottom of the column?

Answer 5

The ones with the longest chains

Question 6

What are alkanes?

Answer 6

All the fractions of crude oil

Question 7

What is the formula for an alkane?

Answer 7

C(n)H(2n+2)

Question 8

What are the first five alkanes?

Answer 8

Methane, Ethane, Propane, Butane, Pentane

Question 9

What are the properties of different lengths of hydrocarbons?

Answer 9

The longer the hydrocarbon, the less runny, the less volatile and the less flammable it is

Question 10

Why is petrol useful as a fuel?

Answer 10

Because it has a high boiling point, so is a liquid

Question 11

What is crude oil used for?

Answer 11

Fuels and plastics

Question 12

Why is crude oil such a good fuel?

Answer 12

It is cheap, readily available, reliable and safe

Question 13

Why is crude oil bad?

Answer 13

Oil spills harm wildlife, and burning it releases harmful gases which contribute to global warming, dimming and acid rain

Question 14

How does hydrocarbon release carbon dioxide?

Answer 14

It reacts with oxygen

Question 15

How is acid rain caused?

Answer 15

Sulphur dioxide reacts with clouds to form a dilute sulphuric acid which falls with rain and corrodes things

Question 16

How can you reduce sulphur emissions?

Answer 16

By removing sulphur from fuels before they are burnt and simply reduce our use of fossil fuels

Question 17

What does carbon dioxide cause?

Answer 17

Climate change such as global warming

Question 18

What do particles cause?

Answer 18

Global dimming

Question 19

What is biofuel? What are its pros and cons?

Answer 19

Ethanol produced from plant materials
Pros are it is carbon neutral
Cons are engines need to be converted to use it and it wastes food and land space

Question 20

What is biodiesel? What are its pros and cons?

Answer 20

It is a type of biofuel produced from vegetable oils that can be mixed with diesel
Pros are it is carbon neutral and engines don’t need to be converted
Cons are it is expensive and wastes food and land space

Question 21

What is hydrogen gas? What are its pros and cons?

Answer 21

It is simply hydrogen made from the electrolysis of water
Pros are it is a renewable source and is very clean
Cons are engines would need to be converted, it isn’t widely available and it is hard to store