Fuels

• Alkanes + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water

  Combustion
• What happens if there a lack of o2

  Incomplete combustion

  Alkane + oxygen = carbon + carbon monoxide + water
• What type of reaction is combustion?

  Exothermic
• Smaller alkanes turn to gases more easily because they are?

  Volatile - burn easily to
• Alkanes can also produce

  Harmful emissions
• If most of our electricity is produced by fossil fuels in power stations waht does this produce?

  Pollutants such as carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, carbon particles, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen
• Carbon monoxide is toxic


  CO is better at binding to Haemoglobin than oxygen so it binds faster

  Meaning less oxygen can be carried around the body - oxygen deprivation
• Sulfur dioxide = acid rain

  Acid rain forms due to burning fossil fuels that contain sulfur - sulfur burns to form sulfur dioxide and enters atmosphere and dissolves in moisture

  Converted into sulfuric acid
• Oxides of nitrogen - acid rain

  High pressure and temp in a car engine cause nitrogen and oxygen in air to react

  When oxides of nitrogen enter atmosphere and dissolve in moisture

  Converted to nitric acid
• What does acid rain cause?

  Damage to vegetation, corrodes buildings, killing fish in lakes
• What do catalytic converters do?

  Remove pollutants from car emissions
• Catalytic converters

  Get rid of pollutants by using a platinum catalyst to change them to harmless gases like water vapour, nitrogen etc
• Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)

  Non renewable

  Finite

  Not sustainable
• The 3 tyoes of biofuels

  Bioethanol

  Biodiesal

  Biogas