Cracking

• Hydrocarbons are cracked to produce smaller, more useful molecules. This involves heating them to vaporise them
• • Cracking is a form of thermal decomposition which is when one substance is breaks down into at least two new ones when you eat it

  -> A lot of energy is needed to break the strong covalent bonds

  -> A catalyst is usually added to speed it up
• Cracking can also produce alkene molecules which can be used to make polymers
• Long molecules produced from fractional distillation are cracked into smaller ones because there's more demand for products like petrol and diesel rather than bitumen and fuel oil