organic chemistry Flashcards
What are hydrocarbons?
Molecules composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms
What is crude oil and how is it made?
- Origin:
Ancient biomass, mainly plankton, buried in mud. - Finite Resource:
Crude oil is a finite resource found in rocks.
Composition:
* Mixture of numerous compounds, predominantly hydrocarbons.
What are the predominant type of hydrocarbon and what is there molecular structure formula?
Alakanes - belong to a homologous series
CnH2n+2
What are the first 4 alkanes?
- methane
- ethane
- propane
- butane
What is fractional distillation of crude oil?
Separation of hydrocarbons into fractions with similar carbon atoms
What are the characteristics of these fractionated carbons?
Fractions contain molecules with a comparable number of carbon atoms
what are the applications of these fractionated hydrocarbons?
fractions utilized for fuels and petrochemical industry feedstock
What are some of the products e can get from crude oil after being fractionated?
- Petrol
- diesel oil
- lubricants
- polymers
- kerosene
Carbon’s ability to form families of similar compounds results in a wide variety of natural and synthetic carbon compounds
What are the properties of hydrocarbons?
Boiling Point:
Generally increases with larger molecular size
Viscosity:
Generally increases with larger molecular size
Flammability:
Generally decreases with larger molecular size
Describe the process of the combustion of hydrocarbons?
- Release of energy by burning hydrocarbon fuels
- Carbon and hydrogen oxidized during combustion
- Complete Combustion Products- Carbon dioxide and water
What is hydrocarbon cracking?
Breakdown of hydrocarbons into smaller, more useful molecules
What are the two methods for hydrocarbon cracking?
- Steam cracking
- catalytic cracking
What are the products of hydrocarbon cracking?
alkanes and alkenes
Alkenes overview
More reactive than alkanes
reacts with bromine water
decolorisation of bromine water
use alkenes for polymers and starting materials for many chemicals
