Fuels and Atmosphere

• What is crude oil primarily composed of?

  Hydrocarbons
• How is crude oil formed?

  From the remains of ancient dead marine organisms over millions of years
• What type of resource is crude oil classified as?

  Finite resource
• Why is crude oil considered a finite resource?

  Because it forms extremely slowly over millions of years and cannot quickly be replaced
• What are two important uses of crude oil?

  Fuels and feedstock for the petrochemical industry
• What is a feedstock?

  A raw material used to provide reactants for an industrial reaction
• What is a petrochemical?

  A substance made from crude oil using chemical reactions
• How is ethene produced from crude oil used in industry?

  As feedstock to make poly(ethene)
• What is a polymer?

  A large molecule formed from many identical smaller molecules known as monomers
• What is the significance of the ball and stick models in understanding hydrocarbons?

  They visually represent the arrangement of carbon and hydrogen atoms in hydrocarbons
• What are the main components of crude oil and their characteristics?

  • Mixture of hydrocarbons
  • Mainly alkanes
  • Formed from ancient marine organisms
  • Complex mixture of carbon and hydrogen atoms
• What are the environmental and health concerns associated with combustion products of fuels?

  • Air pollution
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Health risks from inhalation
• What are the properties of fraction hydrocarbons?


  Fraction hydrocarbons have varying boiling points, densities, and viscosities based on their molecular size and structure.
• What does viscosity mean?


  How difficult it is for a substance to flow
• A homologous series is a series compounds that have the same functional group, similar chemical properties and the same general formula
• The formula for alkanes is CnH2n+2
• The first four alkanes are Methane Ethane Propane and Butane
• As the number of carbon atoms increases:

  • the intermolecular forces between alkane molecules become stronger
  • more energy is needed to overcome these forces
  • the boiling point increases
• Hydrocarbon + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water is the equation for complete combustion
• What does incomplete combustion produce?


  Carbon monoxide and soot
• Incomplete combustion happens when there is not enough oxygen
• Sulfur dioxide is produced because sulfur is an impurity in the hydrocarbon fuel that oxidises
• Nitrogen oxide is produced because of high temperatures of burning fuel in engines which makes nitrogen react with oxygen in the air
• Nitrogen oxide and Sulfur dioxide rise up to clouds to produce acid rain