Organic Chemistry Flashcards
What is a hydrocarbon?
Any compound made up of only carbon and hydrogen atoms.
What is an alkane?
The simplest type of hydrocarbon. They are saturated compounds that make up a homologous series.
What is the general formula for alkanes?
CnH2n+2
What is a homologous series?
A group of organic compounds that react in a similar way.
What are the first four alkanes?
Methane, Ethane, Propane, Butane
How does the length of a carbon chain affect its properties.
Shorter carbon chains mean:
- a runnier, less viscous (gloopy) hydrocarbon
- more volatile (lower boiling points)
- more flammable
What is an example of how the properties of hydrocarbons affect how they’re used.
Short chain hydrocarbons with lower boiling points are used as bottled gases (stored under pressure as liquids in bottles)
What is complete combustion?
When there is plenty of oxygen present meaning both the carbon and the hydrocarbon are oxidised.
What is the formula for complete combustion?
Hydrocarbon + Oxygen —> Carbon Dioxide + Water
what are hydrocarbons used for and why?
They’re used as fuels because they release so much fuel when they combust
What is crude oil?
A fossil fuel which is a mixture of lots of different hydrocarbons.
How is crude oil formed?
It’s formed from the remains of plants and animals that were turned to crude oil after being subject to high temperature and pressure underground for millions of years.
Why are fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas called non-renewable fuels?
Because they take so long to make that we’re using them faster than they’re being formed
The different compounds in crude oil are separated through fractional distillation. How does it work?
- oil is heated until most of it evaporates
- gas enters a fractionating column with a temperature gradient which gets cooler as you go up
- longer hydrocarbons have high boiling points so they condense back to liquids and drain out lower down
- oil ends up in different fractions, each containing similar length carbons with similar boiling points.
What are the uses of crude oil in modern life?
- fuel for most transport
- feedstock for new compounds in things like detergents and solvents
Why do we crack hydrocarbons?
Long-chain hydrocarbons aren’t very useful so we turn them into smaller, more useful ones by cracking them.
How does cracking work?
- heat up long-chain hydrocarbons to vapourise them
- vapour is passed over a hot powered aluminium oxide catalyst
- molecules split apart on the catalyst’s surface
What are alkenes?
Hydrocarbons with a double bond between two of the carbon atoms, meaning they have two less hydrogens than the alkane.
What are the first four alkenes?
Ethene, Propene, Butene and Pentene