Organic Chemistry

Crude oil is a finite resource found in rocks. It is the remains of an ancient biomass consisting of plankton that was buried in the mud.

Crude oil is a mixture of a very large number of compounds. Most of the compounds are Hydrocarbons, which are made up of Hydrogen and carbon atoms only

Most of the hydrocarbons in crude oil are called alkanes. The general formula for the homologus series is CnH2n+2.

The first four alkanes are Methane, Ethane, Propane and Butane.

The hydrocarbons in crude oil can be separated into fractions by fractional distillation. This is where they are separated into groups of molecules, with similar number of carbon atoms.

The fractions can be processed to produce fuels and feedstock for the petrochemical industry.

Many of the fuels on which we depend our modern lifestyle , such as petrol, diesel, oil, kerosine, heavy fuel oil and liquified petroleum gases are produced from crude oil.

Many useful materials on which modern life depend are produced by the petrochemical industry, such as solvents, lubricants, polymers and detergents.

The vast array of natural and synthetic carbon compounds occur due to the ability of carbon atoms to form families of similar compounds.

Some properties of hydrocarbons depend on the size of their…