.1 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 of hydrogen and carbon atoms only.
• Most of the hydrocarbons in crude oil are hydrocarbons called alkanes. The general formula for the homologous series of alkanes is CnH2n+2
• The first four members of the alkanes are methane, ethane, propane and butane.
• Alkane molecules can be represented in the following forms: C2H6