Fuels Flashcards
What are hydrocarbons
Compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms ONLY
What is crude oil
A complex mixture of hydrocarbons
What does finite mean
Will run out/deplete
What is fractional distillation
The separation of crude oil into into simpler, more useful
mixtures
Explain the steps of fractional distillation in 3 steps
- heated crude oil enters a tall fractionating column
(which is hot at the bottom and gets cooler towards the top) - vapours from the oil rise up the column
- condense when they get cool enough
- liquids are let out at different heights
List the 6 fractions that crude oil can be split into in order from highest to lowest
- Gases
- Petrol
- Kerosene
- Diesel oil
- Fuel oil
- Bitumen
What are Gases used for?
Domestic home cooking
What is Petrol used for?
Fuel for cars
What is Kerosene used for?
Fuel for aircraft
What is Diesel used for?
For some cars and trains
What is Fuel oil used for?
For large ships and power stations
What is Bitumen used for?
For fixing roofs and roads
Describe how small molecules behave?
- Low boiling point
- Very volatile (ability to evapourate)
- Low viscosity (thickness)
- Ignites easily
Describe how large molecules behave?
- High boiling point
- Not very volatile
- High viscosity
- Doesn’t ignite easily
What is the homologous series?
a group of chemicals which have similar chemical properties