Crude Oil, Hydrocarbons, and Combustion

Vocabulary flashcards covering crude oil formation, fractional distillation, alkanes, hydrocarbon properties, and fuel combustion.

Crude oil

A finite (non-renewable) resource found in porous rocks in the Earth's crust, formed over millions of years from the fossilised remains of plankton, and used to produce fuels and other chemicals.

Hydrocarbon

A molecule made of only carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Viscous

The property of flowing less easily; larger hydrocarbon molecules are more viscous than smaller ones.

Fractional distillation

A separation process in which crude oil is heated and evaporated into a fractionating column to separate hydrocarbons into fractions based on their different boiling points.

Fraction

A separated part of crude oil containing hydrocarbon molecules with a similar number of carbon atoms and boiling points.

Alkanes

A homologous series of fairly unreactive hydrocarbons in which carbon atoms are linked to four other atoms by single covalent bonds.

Saturated hydrocarbon

A hydrocarbon containing only single covalent bonds, having the maximum number of bonds possible.

General formula for alkanes

$$C_n H_{2n+2}$$

Methane

The simplest alkane, with the molecular formula $CH_4$, made up of 1 carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atoms.

Ethane

An alkane with the molecular formula $C_2 H_6$, made up of 2 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms.

Propane

An alkane with the molecular formula $C_3 H_8$, made up of 3 carbon atoms and 8 hydrogen atoms.

Butane

An alkane with the molecular formula $C_4 H_{10}$, made up of 4 carbon atoms and 10 hydrogen atoms.

Fuels

Substances that can be burned to release energy.

Combustion

The burning of fuels in which both carbon and hydrogen are oxidised and energy is released.

Carbon monoxide

A colourless, odourless, and toxic gas produced when carbon burns in a limited supply of oxygen ($2C + O_2 \rightarrow 2CO$).

Particulates

Solid particles in the air containing soot (carbon) that can cause global dimming and damage people's lungs.

Global dimming

The reduction in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface caused by solid particulates in the air.

Sulfur dioxide

A gas produced when sulfur burns with oxygen ($S + O_2 \rightarrow SO_2$), which reacts with rain water to form acid rain.

Nitrogen oxides

Gases formed when nitrogen in the air reacts with oxygen due to high temperatures inside burning fuels, leading to respiratory problems and acid rain.

Acid rain

Rain formed by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides reacting with rain water, which can damage plants and buildings.