Crude oil and alkanes

Crude oil and hydrocarbons

is a resource found in rocks. It formed over millions of years from the remains of ancient biomass, mainly plankton, buried in mud.

Crude oil is a of a very large number of compounds. Most of them are — compounds made of . Most of these hydrocarbons are .

Because it is a mixture, crude oil can be separated into useful parts (fractions) by fractional distillation.

The are a : a family of compounds with the same and similar chemical properties. Each one has one more CH₂ than the one before.

General formula of alkanes: CₙH₂ₙ₊₂

Remember

"Mice Eat Paper Bags" gives the order: methane, ethane, propane, butane.

Alkanes are : all their carbon–carbon bonds are single bonds, so they can't take on any more atoms.

A shows every atom and every bond. Each carbon atom makes 4 bonds and each hydrogen atom makes 1.

Methane, CH₄:

    H
    |
H - C - H
    |
    H

Ethane, C₂H₆:

    H   H
    |   |
H - C - C - H
    |   |
    H   H

Propane, C₃H₈:

    H   H   H
    |   |   |
H - C - C - C - H
    |   |   |
    H   H   H

Butane, C₄H₁₀:

    H   H   H   H
    |   |   |   |
H - C - C - C - C - H
    |   |   |   |
    H   H   H   H