fuels and hydrocarbons

Non-renewable resources are resources that have a certain supply which will run out eventually.

Hydrocarbons are molecules made of hydrogen and carbon atoms.

Crude oil is a non-renewable resource that is a mixture of different compounds that aren’t chemically combined, which is made from phytoplankton.

Long chain hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that have a lot of carbon atoms.

Short chain hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons that have few carbon atoms.

Fractional distillation is when crude oil is separated into fractions that have like numbers of carbon atoms.

Fractions are groups of hydrocarbons.

Plankton are tiny plants and animals from the sea.

Feedstock is a material used in the industrial process.

A homologous series is a series of compounds with generally the same formula.

Currently there is 21% of oxygen, 78% of nitrogen and 1% of other gases, like carbon.

Photosynthesis takes in carbon and makes oxygen.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources that contain carbon.

Coal is created from the remnants of trees that do not decompose in marshy wetlands due to lack of oxygen or acidic conditions.

Lack of oxygen or acidic conditions prevent bacteria from causing decomposition.

After time, sediment covers the plant remains and they are then compressed by high pressure and temperature.

When plankton die, they settle in mud on the sea bed and do not decompose if there is a lack of oxygen; over time, heat and pressure turn them into crude oil.

Natural gas is mainly the hydrocarbon of methane.

Natural gas is found by deposits of oil.

Crude oil is used to make fuels and other chemicals.

Hydrocarbons take up the majority of compounds in crude oil and have different sizes, leading to different properties.

Methane contains one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms covalently bonded together.

Hydrocarbons like methane and ethane are alkanes.

Ethene contains 2 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms.