Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes

• crude oil is a finite resource found in rocks
• crude oil is the remains of an ancient biomass consisting mainly of plankton that was buried in mud.
• crude oil is a mixture of a very large number of compounds
• most of the compounds in crude oil are hydrocarbons, which are molecules made up if hydrocarbons, which are molecules made up of hydrogen and carbon only
• most of the hydrocarbons in crude oil are hydrocarbons called alkanes.
• the generic formula for the homologous series of alkanes is CnH2n+2
• crude oil is a finite resource. what does finite mean?


  being used up faster than it is being formed
• how is crude oil formed

  remains of an ancient biomass consisting of many plankton that was buried in mud.
• what is crude oil

  mixture of a very large number of compounds, which are mostly hydrocarbons
• what is the definition of a hydrocarbon?

  compound containing hydrogen and carbon only.
• what is the general formula of the alkanes?

  CnH2n+2
• name the first four member of alkanes

  methane, ethane, propane, butane